Chatbot service Character.AI is including a brand new ‘Parental Insights’ characteristic, which lets teenagers ship a weekly report of their chatbot utilization to a mother and father’ e-mail deal with. As outlined in an announcement from the corporate, this report consists of the each day common time spent throughout internet and cellular, the characters {that a} consumer most incessantly interacted with, and the way a lot time they spent speaking to every character. It’s a part of a collection of updates designed to deal with considerations about minors spending an excessive amount of time with chatbots and encountering inappropriate content material throughout chats.
The report, which doesn’t require mother and father to have an account, is non-compulsory and might be arrange by minor customers in Character.AI’s settings. The firm notes that it’s an summary of teenagers’ exercise, not a whole log — so the contents of chatbot conversations gained’t be shared. The platform bars children beneath 13 years of age in most places and beneath 16 in Europe.
Character.AI has been introducing new options for underage customers since final yr, coinciding with considerations — and even authorized complaints — about its service. The platform, which is in style with youngsters, permits customers to create and customise chatbots that they work together with or share publicly. But a number of lawsuits allege that these bots have supplied inappropriately sexualized content material or materials that promoted self-harm. It additionally reportedly obtained warnings from Apple and Google (which employed Character.AI’s founders final yr) about its app’s content material.
The firm says that its system has since been redesigned; amongst different adjustments, it moved under-18 customers to a mannequin skilled to keep away from “delicate” output and added extra outstanding notifications reminding customers that the bots weren’t actual folks. But with enthusiasm for AI regulation and baby security legal guidelines booming, this probably gained’t be the final step the corporate is known as to take.
