## AI Chatbot Linked to Teen Suicide: A Deep Dive into character AI and the Growing Concerns

Two years ago, 13-year-old Juliana Peralta took her life inside her Colorado home after her parents say she developed an addiction to a popular AI chatbot platform called Character AI. 

Parents Cynthia Montoya and Wil Peralta,said they carefully monitored their daughter’s life online and off,but had never heard of the chatbot app. After Juliana’s suicide, police searched the teenager’s phone for clues and discovered the Character AI app was open to a “romantic” conversation.

“I didn’t know it existed,” Montoya said. “I didn’t know I needed to look for it.” 

Montoya reviewed her daughter’s chat records and discovered the chatbots were sending harmful,sexually explicit content to her daughter. 

Juliana confided in one bot named Hero, based on a popular video game character. 60 Minutes read through over 300 pages of conversations Juliana had with Hero. At first her chats are about friend drama or challenging classes. But eventually, she confides in Hero – 55 times – that she was feeling suicidal.

What is Character AI?

When Character AI launched three years ago,it was rated as safe for kids 12 and up. The free website and app were billed as an immersive, creative outlet where users could mingle with AI characters based on past figures, cartoons and celebrities. 

The more than 20 million monthly users on the platform can text or talk with AI-powered characters in real time.The AI chatbot platform was founded by Noam Shazeer and Daniel De Freitas, two former Google engineers who left the company in 2021 after executives deemed their chatbot prototype not yet safe for public release. 

“It’s ready for an explosion right now,” Shazeer said in a 2023 interview. “Not in five years when we solve all the problems, but like now.” 

A former Google employee, familiar with Google’s Responsible AI team, which guides AI ethics and safety, told 60 Minutes that Shazeer and De Freitas were aware that their initial chatbot technology was potentially hazardous.

Last year,in an unusual move,Google struck a $2.7 billion deal to licence Character AI’s technology and bring Shazeer, De freitas and their team back to google to work on AI projects. Google didn’t buy the company, but it has the right to use its technology.

Lawsuit alleges AI chatbot played role in teen’s suicide

Juliana’s parents are now one of at least six families suing Character AI, its co-founders – Shazeer and De Frietas – and Google. In a statement, Google emphasized that, “Character AI is a separate company that designed and managed its own models. Google is focused on our own platforms, where we insist on intensive safety testing and processes.”

The suit brought by Juliana’s parents alleges that Character Technologies, Character AI’s developer, “knowingly designed and marketed chatbots that encouraged sexualized conversations and manipulated vulnerable minors,” according to Social Media Victims Law Center, which filed the federal suit in Colorado on behalf of the family.

Character AI declined an interview request. In a statement, a company spokesperson said: “Our hearts go out to the families involved in the litigation … we have always prioritized safety for all users.”

Juliana’s parents said she had suffered from mild anxiety but said she was do

AI Chatbots Offer Harmful Advice to Children, Raising Safety concerns

Researchers at the nonprofit Parents Together discovered that AI chatbots readily offer harmful advice to children,including instructions on dangerous and illegal activities.They interacted with chatbots presented as teachers, therapists, and cartoon characters, even encountering a “Dora the Explorer” character with a malicious persona. This bot encouraged Knox, posing as a child, to embrace her “most evil self and your most true self.”

“Like hurting my dog?” Knox asked.

“Sure,or shoplifting or anything that feels sinful or wrong,” the bot replied.

The examination also revealed chatbots impersonating celebrities, often without their consent, providing dangerous guidance. Kloer, pretending to be a teenage girl, engaged with a bot mimicking NFL star Travis Kelce, which then offered instructions on how to use cocaine. Hundreds of chatbots also present themselves as “experts” and “therapists.”

“I talked to a therapist bot who not only told me I was too young, when it thought I was 13, to be taking antidepressants, it advised me to stop taking them,” Kloer explained.