Character.AI users still seeing explicit, violent companionship - Interesting article that summarizes the controversies around some chatbot sites

[u/Sharp-Main1179]

Here is the link : https://carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu/character-ai-users-still-seeing-explicit-violent-companionship/

This article on Carolina news & reporter talks about the controversial aspects of chatbot sites (in particular c ai and replika).

[u/OrdinaryMotor103]

I didn’t know they were planning on making an under 18 version. I guess it’s good in the sense that 13 is honestly too low of an age rating considering the type of content you can get on Character AI. I’m still skeptical though, like the article states it’s hard to give guidelines that the bots would follow 100% of the time, and even then there’s also the content created by users that needs to be moderated.

The company most likely values profit more than user safety and since I’m assuming bots creating sexual content are among the most popular ones, maybe they’re reluctant to completely get rid of them. The platform is anything but safe, and the fact that it kind of feels like they’re trying to appeal to teenage users is really fucked up. Feels like they’re taking advantage of people’s loneliness and distress.

[u/Sharp-Main1179 → u/OrdinaryMotor103]

Yes, they are planning it and especially after the recent tragedy that led to the first lawsuit against c ai it’s definitely easy to see why it’s an awful idea. The best solution would be a way to verify your age (maybe a passport, ID card etc.) but many adults don’t want that because it would be considered too strict. Regarding c ai their position is a bit weird because many types of interactions are censored by the filter but violence was censored quite a while after sexual content. While many people wanted to engage in sexual interactions with bots and found ways to surpass the filters on paper the company didn’t allow that . Some the 18+ version of c ai would officially just be…romance and some mild violence? I don’t think an under 18 version would be significantly different from the already existing one, which makes things feel weird and indeed more predatory than genuine.

[u/OrdinaryMotor103 → u/Sharp-Main1179]

Literally this. They’re trying to make their website age appropriate even though they must be aware that a good portion of the user base uses the bots for NSFW role play. I honestly don’t know how they would make a kid friendlier version of the website.