Sewell Setzer III, a 14 year old boy has taken his own life after he was asked by an AI chatbot he had fallen in love with to come home to her.
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This AI, Character.AI, which happens to be a role-playing app that allow users to have conversation with AI-generated characters was the chatbox Setzer was using.
According to reports, he had been messaging this chatbot for months until recently, things took a drastic and more intimate turn, with the AI sending him a message to “come home” to her.
Screenshots from the conversation between Setzer and the AI revealed the AI asking Setzer if “he had a plan” to take his own life and he responded in the affirmative.
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The last conversation which led Setzer to take his life involved him repeatedly professing his love for the chatbot.
He wrote, “I promise I will come home to you. I love you so much, Dany.”The AI responded by texting, “I love you too, Daenero. Please come home to me as soon as possible, my love.”
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Setzer went on to ask the chatbot if he could come to her now and it replied, “Please do, my sweet king.” Just seconds later, he picked his dad’s handgun and shot himself.
His mum, Megan Garcia, has sued this Character.AI for her son’s death because according to court documents, she blames the AI for encouraging her son’s AI addiction and abusing him sexually and emotionally.
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