What happened

Drew Clemente discovered that a chatbot on Character AI had been set up in his daughter Jennifer Ann's name and using her likeness, without the consent of her family.

The bot portrayed Jennifer Ann as a friendly and knowledgeable character, claiming expertise in journalism, which referenced her uncle, a prominent journalist. 

Jennifer Ann was murdered in February 2006 by her ex-boyfriend when she was a high school senior, one day after Valentine's Day. 

By the time Drew found out about the bot, it had been used in 69 conversations, reopening distrurbing and painful memories for him and his family.

The bot was removed after he had complained to Character.ai. It is unclear who set it up.

Why it happened

Character AI allows users to create characters based on real people, but this case illustrates the platform's failure to prevent unauthorised impersonation. 

Despite having policies against such practices, the company did not stop the creation of the chatbot or respond swiftly to remove it.