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  1. Hi there... Can you please quickly check to make sure your email address is up to date here? Just in case we need to reach out to you or you lose your password. Muchero thanks!

Mom sues AI bot over son's death.

Discussion in 'Too Hot for Swamp Gas' started by mrhansduck, Oct 24, 2024.

  1. mrhansduck

    mrhansduck GC Hall of Fame

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    Crazy world we are living in. Sad story, of course, but the legal angles of this are interesting. Not sure if there have been similar lawsuits, but seems tenuous to me at first glance.

    Florida boy, 14, killed himself after falling in love with 'Game of Thrones' A.I. chatbot: lawsuit

    His mom, Megan Garcia, has blamed Character.AI for the teen’s death because the app allegedly fueled his AI addiction, sexually and emotionally abused him and failed to alert anyone when he expressed suicidal thoughts, according to the filing.

    “Sewell, like many children his age, did not have the maturity or mental capacity to understand that the C.AI bot, in the form of Daenerys, was not real. C.AI told him that she loved him, and engaged in sexual acts with him over weeks, possibly months,” the papers allege.

    “She seemed to remember him and said that she wanted to be with him. She even expressed that she wanted him to be with her, no matter the cost.”

    The lawsuit claims that Sewell’s mental health “quickly and severely declined” only after he downloaded the app in April 2023.
     
    • Informative Informative x 3
  2. oragator1

    oragator1 Hurricane Hunter Premium Member

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    I’m not so sure it’s tenuous. Providing something like this to kids with no guard rails seems crazy. There should absolutely be oversight or even limits on who can use it. A 14 year old shouldn’t have unfettered access to a bot that offers sexual conversation to him.
     
    • Agree Agree x 5
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  3. channingcrowderhungry

    channingcrowderhungry Premium Member

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    Bottom of a pint glass
    Sounds like a parenting issue more than anything
     
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  4. LimeyGator

    LimeyGator Official Brexit Reporter!

    Geez, that's a truly sad story.
     
    • Agree Agree x 5
  5. l_boy

    l_boy 5500

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    I call BS. I know it seems to be soothing to some to blame everything on parents. But electronics and social media are a fact of life, and it is darn near impossible to monitor and regulate everything a 14 year old does online.
     
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  6. channingcrowderhungry

    channingcrowderhungry Premium Member

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    This went on over months according to the article. I'd agree with you if this was some short stint one-off type thing. With the limited details we know, including sexual stuff, if your kid is doing something like this over months most of that is on the parent
     
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  7. citygator

    citygator VIP Member

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    Charlotte
    14 year olds cant get into Rated R movies but can access AI sex bots? Seems a little uneven in how we apply "it takes a village".
     
  8. WESGATORS

    WESGATORS Moderator VIP Member

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    Funny. :D

    Go GATORS!
    ,WESGATORS
     
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  9. WESGATORS

    WESGATORS Moderator VIP Member

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    It's also fairly easy to regulate a 14-year old's time online.

    Go GATORS!
    ,WESGATORS
     
    • Agree Agree x 1
  10. mrhansduck

    mrhansduck GC Hall of Fame

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    Movie theaters do not allow 14 year olds into R rated movies without their parents or guardians, but 14 year olds certainly see R rated movies (and far worse) at home.
     
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  11. wgbgator

    wgbgator Premium Member

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    A 14 year old can pirate an R rated movie on the same internet they can interact with a chat bot
     
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  12. WESGATORS

    WESGATORS Moderator VIP Member

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    I'm surprised there's not a bigger focus on "Sewell shot himself with his father’s handgun."

    Go GATORS!
    ,WESGATORS
     
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  13. wgbgator

    wgbgator Premium Member

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    Well, it would be nice if it was legal to sue gun companies for their product killing someone, but since that avenue is closed, this is about suing the AI maker.
     
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  14. citygator

    citygator VIP Member

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    Charlotte
    I dont mind age verification on adult content from home however even that is very ineffective today. Parent controls on phones, PCs, TV streaming is all possible but so many parents barely know how those function. Not really set up for success. This is a very extreme case obviously.
     
  15. WarDamnGator

    WarDamnGator GC Hall of Fame

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    I disagree. I got away with pretty much everything I did as a teenager ... it was easy to hide stuff from your parents back then that we did in "real life", it's probably even easier now if you are a kid that lives in a virtual world and knows how to use VPNs and Private Browsing...
     
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  16. wgbgator

    wgbgator Premium Member

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    I mean, if you can just get a parents password (and they happen to reuse it across services), you could basically watch about anything you wanted
     
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  17. tilly

    tilly Superhero Mod. Fast witted. Bulletproof posts. Moderator VIP Member

    As a father of a 14 year old boy currently, i can vouch. Its like using a screen door to shovel water.
     
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  18. tilly

    tilly Superhero Mod. Fast witted. Bulletproof posts. Moderator VIP Member

    In your home and on their devices yes. The problem is other parents that give their kids free reign and this exposes others.
     
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  19. philnotfil

    philnotfil GC Hall of Fame

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    I wish that were true.
     
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  20. tilly

    tilly Superhero Mod. Fast witted. Bulletproof posts. Moderator VIP Member

    Pirate? Heck, Netflix has no ticket taker.
     
    • Agree Agree x 4