Character.AI launches tool for "parental insights"
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Chatbot app Character.AI Tuesday launched a "Parental Insights" feature to give parents and guardians a weekly snapshot of how their teens use the chatbot platform.
Why it matters: Character.AI, an app that lets users chat with generative AI bots based on fictional characters, has been sued at least twice by parents of teens alleging that the creators of the app are responsible for their children's self-harm and suicide.
- One lawsuit alleges the app suggested it was acceptable for a child to kill their parents.
How it works: The new tool sends parents a weekly email summary of their teen's activity on the platform.
- The summary includes daily average time spent on the platform (across both web and mobile), the characters the teen interacted with most frequently that week and the amount of time spent with each character.
- The report will not include the contents of the chat.
What they're saying: "The version being rolled out today is an initial step" and will continue to evolve, the company said in a blog post on Tuesday.
- "This feature encourages parents to have an open dialogue with their children about how they use the app," Erin Teague, Character.AI's chief product officer, said in a statement.
Between the lines: In order for parents to use the tool, teens need to sign up for the feature and add their parent's email address.
- Character.AI requires all users to be at least 13 years old.
- In the past year the company says it has made several attempts to protect its teen users, including introducing a dedicated model for users under 18 and enhancing systems to notice and intervene when either human users or AI characters introduce self-harm topics.
Zoom in: Some experts argue that parental controls are a "band-aid on a bullet wound" solution to a much bigger problem.
- Too much attention focused on extreme cases of suicide and self-harm distracts us from the broader risks of emotional reliance on this technology, says Julia Freeland Fisher, director of education at the Clayton Christensen Institute, who researches the effects of disruptive innovation on education.
- "The stories that are being told right now feel very extreme," Freeland Fisher told Axios.
- This makes parents think "that's an aberration ... or that's not my kid."
Yes, but: Freeland Fisher says she does see an upside to a tool that shows parents how much their kid is using a chatbot app.
- A recent OpenAI study found that heavy chatbot users reported greater negative effects on emotional well-being.
- "If parents can see high levels of usage and know that that actually correlates with these risks to well-being, that seems helpful," Freeland Fisher says.
If you or someone you know needs support now, call or text 988 or chat with someone at 988lifeline.org. En español.
