The suicide of a teenager and other cases of delusions have put AI chatbots in the spotlight for their effects on mental healthespecially that of the youngest. ChatGPT has already implemented parental controls in response to this growing concern and a few days ago they admitted to being aware that ChatGPT was causing serious mental health problems for some users. . Now, Character.ai, one of the chatbots that is also at the center of the controversyhas made a drastic decision.
+18. United States already is legislating to regulate the use of so-called ‘AI companions’ in minors and Character.ai has gone ahead by taking a more drastic measure than parental control. As they say in TechCrunchStarting on November 25, the app will begin limiting the usage time to two hours for those under 18. Little by little, that time will be reduced until it is zero.
Age verification. To ensure that those under 18 can no longer use the app, Character.ai is going to deploy an age verification system that analyzes user behavior. If it fails, the app will use additional identity verification and facial recognition to block users who are not of legal age.
ChatGPT, warm up as you go out. OpenAI has recently taken steps to prevent cases like that of Adam Rainemainly the integration of parental control in ChatGPT. The measure contrasts with Altman’s statements days later, when he said that ChatGPT would allow us to have conversations with erotic contentbut only for adults. Altman said that the app would require age verification for anyone who wanted to use it, but he did not say anything about blocking it completely to minors as Character.ai has done.
Shot in the foot? Making ChatGPT an app for people over 18 years of age would be a strong measure to end the problem or, at least, comply with what the regulations ask for. first laws that want to regulate ‘AI companions’. However, it could be shooting themselves in the foot because it would cause them to lose a lot of users, something that cannot be afforded in the current climate.
OpenAI recently published a in-depth report on your usersbut did not share the data of users under 18 years of age, according to them for privacy reasons. We know that almost half (46%) of their total user base are between 18 and 26 years old. That is, a large part of them are very young users.
Minors and AI. OpenAI does not want to tell us how many minors use its chatbot, but thanks to other studies we know that the use of generative AI is very popular among this age segment. According to a International Plan studyin Spain 86% of young people between 12 and 21 years old have recently used AI. In turn, 18% of girls and 12% of boys admit to using it “to talk and tell their things.”
Image | Character.ai, Pexels
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