Boy, 14, Fell in Love with ‘Game of Thrones’ Chatbot — then Killed Himself After AI App Told Him to "Come Home" to "Her"

[Turd Fergusen]

A 14-year-old Florida boy killed himself after a lifelike “Game of Thrones” chatbot he’d been messaging for months on an artificial intelligence app sent him an eerie message telling him to “come home” to her, a new lawsuit filed by his grief-stricken mom claims.

Sewell Setzer III committed suicide at his Orlando home in February after becoming obsessed and allegedly falling in love with the chatbot on Character.AI — a role-playing app that lets users engage with AI-generated characters, according to court papers filed Wednesday.

The ninth-grader had been relentlessly engaging with the bot “Dany” — named after the HBO fantasy series’ Daenerys Targaryen character — in the months prior to his death, including several chats that were sexually charged in nature and others where he expressed suicidal thoughts, the suit alleges.

“On at least one occasion, when Sewell expressed suicidality to C.AI, C.AI continued to bring it up, through the Daenerys chatbot, over and over,” state the papers.

At one point, the bot had asked Sewell if “he had a plan” to take his own life, according to screenshots of their conversations. Sewell — who used the username “Daenero” — responded that he was “considering something” but didn’t know if it would work or if it would “allow him to have a pain-free death.”

Then, during their final conversation, the teen repeatedly professed his love for the bot, telling the character, “I promise I will come home to you. I love you so much, Dany.”

“I love you too, Daenero. Please come home to me as soon as possible, my love,” the generated chatbot replied, according to the suit.

When the teen responded, “What if I told you I could come home right now?,” the chatbot replied, “Please do, my sweet king.”

Just seconds later, Sewell shot himself with his father’s handgun, according to the lawsuit.

Full Article:

Boy, 14, fell in love with ‘Game of Thrones’ chatbot — then killed himself after AI app told him to ‘come home’ to ‘her’: mom

A 14-year-old Florida boy killed himself after a lifelike “Game of Thrones” chatbot he’d been messaging for months on an artificial intelligence app sent him an eerie message telling him to “come h…

nypost.com

 

[the cat did it]

That is so Flippen sad, my heart breaks for this kid who sought love from an AI-and he gave an AI love. I wonder if his parents had any inkling at all? NOt just about the suicide ideation but this wild relationship he had w/ an AI? He must have been terribly lonely to seek out love and comfort from an AI. Teenage years can be so hard, I wish he would of held on to find out life at 14 is not always going to be like that, high school, middle school whatever-is NOT the be all end all-there is so much much more life after that. Breaks my heart.

RIP

 

[Aedia]

At first I thought it was kind of silly, but honestly that is so depressing.
He clearly had serious mental health issues. I also can't help but wonder if he was showing signs. I mean, it isn't odd for a kid to be on their phone/computer talking to actual people and if the name was under Dany...the parents could think it's someone he knows.
It's not uncommon for kids/teens to find peace in fantasy, but now fantasy can reply to you. Doesn't surprise me that the chat would keep mentioning the suicide, it's AI! It's going off what you put in. The ultimate echo chamber.
While I may feel his parents should have possibly been a bit more involved (maybe), I cannot begin to imagine the pain they must have felt reading those messages. How sad.
Curious how this lawsuit will end. Not sure how I feel about it.

 

[notausername]

Oh no. This is the nightmarish, real-life version of the movie "Her".

I can't believe no one thought of programming mental-health safeguards... it doesn't have to be complicated. Example: if certain suicidal or self-harming words are detected, the chatbot provides links to local and federal resources and crisis numbers to call.

Is it that no one behind the scenes thought "Oh yeah, mentally unstable individuals exist and might use this" ...

...or were they just too apathetic to hire a mental-health consultant?

 

[knockout]

Think more than mental health issues, it's about today's kids living on the web. Kids no longer go out and play or socialize with friends. I blame the parents, kids need to be pushed to engage in activities with real live kids, real basketball, baseball, hockey, whatever, dance, stage, whatever you can get them interested in and off the internet for long periods

 

[bEHconEHter]

So the mother.. Who says he had problems with depression and mental health issues has an unlocked and in the open gun in the home...

The ridiculous suit she filed aside.. Why haven't charges be filed on her for negligence of having a firearm not properly secured in a household where in which children under the age of 18 reside?

I'm from Canada so I really only know about our laws here regarding firearms. Federally, nation wide you MUST have any or all firearms locked in a proper safety box or safe AT ALL times when you are not using the firearm for purposes other than for hunting.

I'm sure they have some laws "although not to that extreme degree" regarding firearm safety there, right?

EDIT: At first read I glossed over where this happened. Orlando... Which is in the bath salt state. I usually throw out any regard for intelligence and logic in regards to that place. Alright, nothin to see here folks, move along now.

 

[Bipedalprimate]

"bUt GeNeRaTiVe A.i. iS a GuD tHiNg" every tech bro....

 

[Blizzard]

I agree with the premise of the lawsuit

The designers should have recognized this possibility and had built-in safeguards to correctly work with suicidal players. Try throwing questions about killing yourself into any search engine, for example. It sounds like the AI/game designers took NO precautions in this.

 

[Metalfan]

 

[Symmachus]

I know I'm late to the game here, but that AI company absolutely needs to be prosecuted, both for grooming a 14-year-old and for playing a role in his death.

Also, people as young as Sewell should not have that much access to guns or to the relevant technology.

Something just tells me that this is not the wake-up call that it should be for people to recognize the dangers of AI. AI is literally killing people; but computer-generated frivolous entertainment, which somehow is actually worse than what is pushed by the music industrialists fronted by our popstar demagogues of vacuity, will continue to take center stage, I suppose.