OpenAI under fire: Can chatbots ever truly be child-safe?

Matthew and Maria Raine are not only seeking financial compensation for the death of their son Adam. With their lawsuit against internet giant OpenAI, they also want to make sure that nothing like this ever happens again. They are convinced that OpenAI's ChatGPT chatbot contributed significantly to Adam's death. In a similar case, a mother from Florida claims that the chatbot known as Character.AI encouraged her 14-year-old son to take his own life.

Chatbots are internet-based programs that allow even young or inexperienced people to interact with artificial intelligence (AI) based on large language models (LLMs). Chatbots are not necessarily just designed to provide information, generate images or videos, or write code to program websites. They are also often programmed to interact as if they want to please their human counterparts. Psychologist Johanna Löchner from the University of Erlangen says: "Chatbots confirm, acknowledge, 'give' attention and understanding ... This can...