ORLANDO, Fla. – “If this were an adult in real life who did this to one of your young people, they would be in jail,” attorney Meetali Jain said.
Did a relationship with an Artificial Intelligence chatbot lead 14-year old Sewell Setzer to take his own life?
That’s what his family believes.
“That emotional grooming happened over many months, and there were not guard rails to prevent that,” Jain told News 6.
Megan Garcia, Sewell’s mom, is suing Character A.I. (”C.AI”) — saying their A.I. chatbot manipulated the 14-year old into “abusive and sexual interactions,” which ultimately cost him his life.
[READ: Orlando mom says chatbot caused son’s suicide. Here are the claims]
Jain is representing Garcia in her lawsuit against C.AI, which argues that C.AI is responsible for Setzer’s depression, anxiety, sleep deprivation, and suicidal thoughts.
“In one instance, one of these bots said, ‘Promise me you will never fall in love with any other woman in your world.’ There’s this notion they’re grooming them to become your emotional companion,” Jain said.
The lawsuit also pointed out several conversations about Setzer taking his own life, including his last conversation before his death, telling the A.I. character “Dany” that he was “coming home,” which she encouraged.
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The lawsuit states Setzer was diagnosed with anxiety and disruptive mood disorder.
President and CEO of Mental Health Association of Central Florida Marni Stahlman said C.AI interactions caused his conditions to get worse.
“The failure by the technology provider to adequate controls when the young man started to exhibit, and express feelings of depression and self-harm, there was no notification back to the parents,” Stahlman said.
In a statement from C.AI, the company said it was “deeply saddened by one of their users’ loss.”
The company also plans on adding several safety features to its product, including improved detection, response and intervention related to user inputs that violate its Terms or Community Guidelines, as well as a time-spent notification.
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