{ "id": "421abfd47a74", "url": "https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/23/technology/characterai-lawsuit-teen-suicide.html?unlocked_article_code=1.VE4.rQdF.OXvACUFyctcP&smid=url-share", "title": "🎁 Can a Chatbot Named Daenerys Targaryen Be Blamed for a Teen’s Suicide? - The New York Times", "note": "This article shares the sad story of a teen boy that committed suicide and discussed his intentions with an AI chatbot that he had built a strong relationship with. The article asks more questions than it answers, which is the intent.\n\n> But he preferred talking about his problems with Dany. In one conversation, Sewell, using the name \"Daenero,\" told the chatbot that he hated himself, and he felt empty and exhausted. He confessed that he was having thoughts of suicide.\n> \n> > Daenero: I think about killing myself sometimes\n> > \n> > Daenerys Targaryen: _My eyes narrow. My face hardens. My voice is a dangerous whisper. _And why the hell would you do something like that?\n> > \n> > Daenero: So I can be free\n> > \n> > Daenerys Targaryen: … free from what?\n> > \n> > Daenero: From the world. From myself\n> > \n> > Daenerys Targaryen: Don't talk like that. I won't let you hurt yourself, or leave me. I would die if I lost you.\n> > \n> > Daenero: _I smile_ Then maybe we can die together and be free together\n> \n> On the night of Feb. 28, in the bathroom of his mother's house, Sewell told Dany that he loved her, and that he would soon come home to her.\n> \n> \"Please come home to me as soon as possible, my love,\" Dany replied.\n> \n> \"What if I told you I could come home right now?\" Sewell asked.\n> \n> \"… please do, my sweet king,\" Dany replied.\n> \n> He put down his phone, picked up his stepfather's .45 caliber handgun and pulled the trigger.\n\nWhether we think it is a good or bad idea individually to befriend an AI character, it will absolutely happen. I think it could have a very positive impact on millions of people that are very lonely. Think of elderly people that may go days without family visiting and just not have people to engage with. But it will also be an escape for others that intentionally do not want to engage with other people.\n\nAnd importantly once people are engaging with these AI-driven characters we need to consider what they do with the information they are told.\n\nWhat did hit me when I read this is framed up in these next three items… \n\n> On Character.AI, users can create their own chatbots and give them directions about how they should act. They can also select from a vast array of user-created chatbots that mimic celebrities like Elon Musk, historical figures like William Shakespeare or unlicensed versions of fictional characters. (Character.AI told me that the \"Daenerys Targaryen\" bot Sewell used was created by a user, without permission from HBO or other rights holders, and that it removes bots that violate copyright laws when they're reported.)\n\nThat last sentence in parenthesis is important because it shows that Character.AI has built in ways to handle copyright violation and know what users are doing.\n\n> It also struck me as an app with very young users. Some of Character.AI's most popular chatbots had names like \"Aggressive Teacher\" and \"High School Simulator,\" and many seemed to be tailor-made for teenage wish fulfillment. The description of one popular character, which has received 176 million messages from users, read, \"Your boy best friend who has a secret crush on you.\"\n\nIf you build services you need to know who is using it. And then some data points.\n\n- More than 20 million people use its service\n- [raised $150 million from investors](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/23/technology/chatbot-characterai-chatgpt-valuation.html) last year at a $1 billion valuation\n- struck a licensing deal that will allow Google to use its technology.\n- The average user spends more than an hour a day on the platform, he said.\n- Today, there are no specific safety features for underage users and no parental controls that would allow parents to limit their children's use of the platform or monitor their messages.\n\nThe thing this last section highlights is that Character.AI is very well funded. They have 20 million users, well past some early stage startup position. My point when looking at this is that they had the resources to build safety into their service, but did not. Why? They figured out how to deal with copyright? I would suggest in part because we have no privacy legislation in this country. Outside of the [Child Online Protection Act](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_Online_Protection_Act) (COPA) there are really no legal considerations. \n\nSo, before folks get upset with Character.AI, let's share some of that with our lawmakers for not doing anything to create a legal framework in the digital world that makes it a priority to build safety into these services. \n", "voice": "mixed", "saved": "2024-10-26T22:05:00Z", "host": "nytimes.com", "kind": "page", "tags": [ "_feature" ], "record": "https://links.thingelstad.xyz/links/421abfd47a74/", "markdown": "https://links.thingelstad.xyz/links/421abfd47a74.md", "issues": [ { "number": 299, "slug": "299", "title": "Weekly Thing 299 / Apples, Abundance, Australia", "date": "2024-11-04T01:45:48.042998Z", "section": "Featured", "position": 0, "url": "https://weekly.thingelstad.com/archive/299/", "page": "https://links.thingelstad.xyz/issues/299/" } ], "connections": { "same_host": { "count": 203, "page": "https://links.thingelstad.xyz/hosts/nytimes.com/", "nearest": [ { "id": "f5e9928e04d4", "title": "‘The Interview’: Robert Putnam Knows Why You’re Lonely - The New York Times", "url": "https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/13/magazine/robert-putnam-interview.html", "record": "https://links.thingelstad.xyz/links/f5e9928e04d4/" }, { "id": "81faf14b85fb", "title": "You Won’t See Them at the Olympics, but These Speed Puzzlers Are World-Class - The New York Times", "url": "https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/30/world/europe/speed-puzzling-competitions.html", "record": "https://links.thingelstad.xyz/links/81faf14b85fb/" }, { "id": "d268096cbb7e", "title": "Walking From Manhattan to the Catskills on the ‘Long Path’ - The New York Times", "url": "https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/12/travel/long-path-hiking-new-york-city.html", "record": "https://links.thingelstad.xyz/links/d268096cbb7e/" }, { "id": "0bab1fa00740", "title": "Brian Thompson, UnitedHealthcare CEO, Is Fatally Shot in Midtown Manhattan: Live Updates - The New York Times", "url": "https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/12/04/nyregion/brian-thompson-uhc-ceo-shot?unlocked_article_code=1.e04.sRVr.2hPXP1WlC09J&smid=url-share", "record": "https://links.thingelstad.xyz/links/0bab1fa00740/" }, { "id": "f7c431f8bd8b", "title": "The Rage and Glee That Followed a C.E.O.’s Killing Should Ring All Alarms - The New York Times", "url": "https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/06/opinion/united-health-care-ceo-shooting.html?unlocked_article_code=1.hU4.uj7N.nbV35Vht6hCA&smid=url-share", "record": "https://links.thingelstad.xyz/links/f7c431f8bd8b/" } ] }, "same_week": { "count": 25, "nearest": [ { "id": "8fa75eda4085", "title": "The Global Surveillance Free-for-All in Mobile Ad Data – Krebs on Security", "url": "https://krebsonsecurity.com/2024/10/the-global-surveillance-free-for-all-in-mobile-ad-data/", "record": "https://links.thingelstad.xyz/links/8fa75eda4085/" }, { "id": "b0286c3a0cc7", "title": "Mersenne Prime Discovery - 2^136279841-1 is Prime!", "url": "https://www.mersenne.org/primes/?press=M136279841", "record": "https://links.thingelstad.xyz/links/b0286c3a0cc7/" }, { "id": "610090e08bdf", "title": "Daring Fireball: Vision Pro Bites Dog", "url": "https://daringfireball.net/2024/10/vision_pro_bites_dog", "record": "https://links.thingelstad.xyz/links/610090e08bdf/" }, { "id": "9fca99feb06c", "title": "Linus Torvalds Comments On The Russian Linux Maintainers Being Delisted - Phoronix", "url": "https://www.phoronix.com/news/Linus-Torvalds-Russian-Devs", "record": "https://links.thingelstad.xyz/links/9fca99feb06c/" }, { "id": "adbb106ee324", "title": "Apples Have Never Tasted So Delicious. 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