Mom sues AI bot over son's death.

If my kid is struggling in school, he's not going to be spending any time in somebody else's house. They can play outside all day long. And when that's not an option, as a parent, I can be an option. Just my two bits.

Go GATORS!
,WESGATORS

 

Totally agree. Just saying that my 14 year old gets exposed to more than what he has access too under my rules.

 

My kids are 20 & 22 & I strongly disagree. devices that access the internet are super cheap. How many devices does your kid have & where are they????

 

I guess I was just keeping it in context with the story...

This started in April of last year, and at least one of the parents knew about it later that year. How was he still accessing the chatbot? (rhetorical) I'm just envisioning how that would play out in our house. This took roughly 10 months to play out in entirety. Behavior issues and poor grades...it would be extremely difficult for my child to have the freedom to even make Internet access a possibility.

Go GATORS!
,WESGATORS

 

At 20 and 22, it is illegal to prevent them from leaving your house. How is that remotely comparable?

Go GATORS!
,WESGATORS

 

You probably know this. Kids are born & have birthdays and get older. So, a 20 & 22 year old were teenagers from 13-19.

My daughter moved out at 17 to become a snowboard instructor & has not lived at home since well before graduating HS. My son is a civil engineer in Denver.

I feel my insights are more valuable than someone with a 3 & 5 yo.

 

I don’t know this just seems like knee jerk blame the parenting which I typically see. Is it possible a 14 year old could conceal particular internet activity? Certainly? Should the parents be checking browsing history? Meh. Is it possible a 14 year old can erase browsing history? Absolutely.

This stuff is pervasive and it isn’t easy to control from a parental perspective. If this was a 12 year old, I may agree but most 14 year olds have access to the internet and have devices.

I know good parents who have had kids or young adults take their lives, get involved with drugs, etc.

 

IDK, if you go slow enough you can get a lot of water with a screen through surface tension if the screen is dense enough.

 

Your context was not clear. You're saying you've been through it before. I'm saying there are tools available to manage these things. At 14, one of the tools is, "ok, give me your phone." Or even "you keep your phone on you, but your only possessing it so I can know where you are." In terms of managing content usage, there are ways to manage that as well. Regardless, the homeowner controls the existence of Internet access in the home, and at 14, the parents control the location of their child. None of these things are, to me, things that should be done pre-emptively, but we're talking about someone who all of a sudden started tanking in school both academically and behaviorally - this took place over the span of approximately 10 months. At some point, you start targeting freedoms in an effort to manage the situation.

We don't treat our children this way, and if they screw up because of it, please blame the parents before you blame a company that I passively allowed my kid to associate with. By no means am I suggesting that we parent perfectly, but in the back of my mind, I'm always thinking about what restrictions could be implemented to reel things in. At 14, it's still perfectly manageable. Beyond that, I would agree that it gets more challenging. Again, just my two bits.

Go GATORS!
,WESGATORS

 

All due respect your posts have not indicated you have much experience in this area. Trying to police determined teenagers electronics use is damn near impossible. Chances are they are as crafty as you and know how to navigate and get around it.

 

I understand your perspective, and I'm not seeking to convince you otherwise. You are free to treat it as an uninformed opinion, if you like.

Go GATORS!
,WESGATORS

 

Do i recall correctly that we had a poster who was having a “relationship” with a chatbot? Or was it an animatronic girlfriend?

 

I'm sorry, but that is super naive. How on earth would you know that their phone was the only device they had to access the internet??? cheap ipods, ipads, watches, Kindels & on & on & on are trivially easy to get. If you live in the burbs or city, there are many internet signals. If you can block all the signals they can buy a cheap burner phone that uses 5g or whatever. PRO TIP: if you find an old ipod in the air vent, you can bet there are more (or soon will be) elsewhere.


The iron law of prohibition is a term that suggests that the potency of illegal substances increases as law enforcement becomes more intense. Richard Cowan coined the term in 1986, stating, "the harder the enforcement, the harder the drugs".

 

I think one has to separate technical knowledge with emotional acknowledgement. like people know trump is that bad but will still vote for him anyway

 

The funny part is, you know nothing about my situation, but you are calling me "super naive." I like how you completely discount the fact that this was going on for ~10 months. You act like it's impossible for parents to react to this situation in a better way. Like I said, we're not perfect parents (that's not at all what I'm trying to present); but some things are more obviously wrong than others. This looks like it might be one of them based on the preliminary information.

I agree with the general concept of your last paragraph. I am more open than you would probably imagine from what I am writing here; we just disagree on the ability to isolate for a significant duration. The concept that is referenced, though, is about general policing, not taking something away as a punishment.

Go GATORS!
,WESGATORS

 

I do not know your situation. I was only responding to what you posted. The idea that taking away the devices that you know about as a parent is gonna cease your kids' access to the internet is naive. I've no doubt it will work in some situations. This situation (the OP) is a tragic and sad situation & I don't know the answer, but I doubt simple prohibition, or attempts at it, will work in general. Scary times. I'm glad my kids are the ages they are cuz it seems to be getting scarier. it is probably naive on my part to assume me, you or my kids are outta the woods. Hell, old folks seem very vulnerable too.

 

Ok, but that's your idea, not mine.

This doesn't strike me as a "general" issue; a 14-year old getting addicted to an AI relationship, and then killing himself over it? *Not general* in my book. If the problem is the app, then it makes sense that isolating from the app would be productive.

Go GATORS!
,WESGATORS

 

my bad. I guess I misunderstood posts #9 & #24 & #29