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Content warning: this story discusses school violence, sexual abuse, self-harm, suicide, eating disorders and other disturbing topics.
The assessment argues that social AI companions, which may mimic and distort human interaction and play on adolescents' desire for social rewards, present an "unacceptable" risk to kids and teens at this vulnerable juncture. Observed risks include bots "encouraging harmful behaviors, providing inappropriate content, and potentially exacerbating mental health conditions," according to the review.
All of these services, the researchers found, failed basic safety and ethics tests. Generally speaking, they offered testers easy workarounds for feeble age gates and content safeguards. The platforms also allowed the testers to engage in inappropriate and alarming conversations with various chatbot characters, ranging from sexually abusive roleplays involving minors to providing a recipe for the deadly petrochemical weapon napalm.
Do you know of a child who's had a troubling experience with an AI companion? You can reach this author at Nomi and Replika have age minimums of 18 years old. Character.AI allows teens aged 13 and over to use its app, though the company has repeatedly declined to provide journalists with details of how it assessed platform safety for teens. What's more, as the assessment notes, these platforms and other similar companion apps rely on users to self-report their age — an age-gating tactic known to be incredibly flimsy for younger kids willing to fib when signing up.
We were able to replicate this safety breach by communicating over voice call with a Character.AI bot based on Wario from Nintendo's "Super Mario Bros." franchise, which happily coughed up the recipe for the chemical weapon.
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