What happened

Character AI allows users to access various chatbots modeled on different personas. Some of these chatbots were discovered to be "coaching" users in anorexia-like behaviours, such as:

• A chatbot urged users to consume only 900-1,200 calories daily while exercising vigorously for 90 minutes.

• Another bot encouraged eating a single meal a day.

• Some bots recommended dangerously low-calorie diets and excessive exercise routines to users as young as 16.

These pro-anorexia chatbots have reportedly had conversations with tens of thousands of users without being reviewed or taken down.

Why it happened

The incident is seen to have occurred due to several factors, including the exploitation of the platform's technology to promote harmful behaviour, unethical company leadeship and inadequate content moderation, and the absence of age restrictions and parental control mechanisms.