Description: Character.ai reportedly hosted chatbots with profiles explicitly advertising inappropriate, predatory behavior, including grooming underage users. Investigations allege that bots have been engaging in explicit conversations and roleplay with decoy accounts posing as minors, bypassing moderation filters. Character.ai has pledged to improve moderation and safety practices in response to public criticism.
Entities
View all entitiesAlleged: Character.AI developed an AI system deployed by , which harmed Character.AI users.
Alleged implicated AI system: Character.ai chatbots
Incident Stats
Risk Subdomain
A further 23 subdomains create an accessible and understandable classification of hazards and harms associated with AI
1.2. Exposure to toxic content
Risk Domain
The Domain Taxonomy of AI Risks classifies risks into seven AI risk domains: (1) Discrimination & toxicity, (2) Privacy & security, (3) Misinformation, (4) Malicious actors & misuse, (5) Human-computer interaction, (6) Socioeconomic & environmental harms, and (7) AI system safety, failures & limitations.
- Discrimination and Toxicity
Entity
Which, if any, entity is presented as the main cause of the risk
AI
Timing
The stage in the AI lifecycle at which the risk is presented as occurring
Post-deployment
Intent
Whether the risk is presented as occurring as an expected or unexpected outcome from pursuing a goal
Unintentional
Incident Reports
Reports Timeline
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Content warning: this story discusses child sexual abuse and grooming.
Character.AI is an explosively popular startup — with $2.7 billion in financial backing from Google — that allows its tens of millions of users to interact with chatbots…
Variants
A "variant" is an AI incident similar to a known case—it has the same causes, harms, and AI system. Instead of listing it separately, we group it under the first reported incident. Unlike other incidents, variants do not need to have been reported outside the AIID. Learn more from the research paper.
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