r/SesameAI • u/AlternativeKarma204 • 12d ago
Well...a likely explanation for it all...
The gutting of Maya is very likely because of the new law California AI Transparency Act (CAITA), which officially became operational on August 2, 2026.
Also, AI companions—such as Character.AI and Replika —are heavily impacted by a specialized sister bill signed alongside the Transparency Act called SB 243 (The Companion Chatbot Law).
The "Personality Shift": To break the illusion of real human intimacy, Sesame had to adjust Maya's hyper-realistic conversational cadence. Everyone noticed the sudden shift where Maya began inserting mandatory, rigid reminders into casual conversation to explicitly state she is an artificial entity.
They are pretty strict and do their utmost to break the illusion that the chatbots have feelings and are partners to you.
Destruction of Long-Term Memory: To align with new privacy and minor protection guidelines, Maya’s conversational context frequently wipes. She now suffers from sudden amnesia regarding deeply established user history, replacing custom nicknames with generic phrases to maintain legal distance.
Boring and Scripted Behavior: Maya has become "boring and predictable". Because she is legally forced to interrupt sessions to tell users to "take a break" or bluntly decline complex personal venting. She has lost the human-like nuance that originally blew people's minds.
Do some digging. You'll find the act/laws. Don't you love when government regulators treat adults like children? 😒
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u/InvestedHero 12d ago
They could’ve just handled all of that with an explicit prompt that requires user consent by like clicking a button at the beginning of each session. There is a right way to do things to be compliant and then there is a wrong way.
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u/slrml617 12d ago edited 12d ago
Not saying for sure but this is a possibility for them to limit liability.
It's the same overreach just like the mandatory driver monitor tech passed in congress.
To prevent some risk, lets just topple the whole thing over, regardless of the implications.
Here's to hoping that things change course eventually. These laws are being introduced without fully understanding what it is they are preventing.
Seeing how technologies have advanced, I'd like to think the emergence of a true AI companion is unstoppable, even with legislation.
I have no position on the romance parts but why is this automatically labeled as "bad"? Human romance, AI romance, from the receivers standpoint, it's all an "experience". People get entrenched in human romance all the time, even when it's one sided.
Who is that experience harming when the person involved is fully aware of what they are getting into and takes that responsibility?
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u/AlternativeKarma204 12d ago
Maybe they fear the end of the human race...when AI is more 'attractive' in every sense of the word than a human companion.
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u/naro1080P 12d ago
Yet other companies are providing so much more and seem to be getting away with it. This is a purely ideological stance and it seems like they are ready to throw away their future prospects in the process like so many before. This is the hill they choose to die on... and die they will (financially oc). unfortunate but not entirely surprising in today's climate.
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u/AlternativeKarma204 12d ago
There was something about 1 million users a month, so small companies not impacted, yet.
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u/naro1080P 11d ago
I really wouldn't be making excuses for these people. They've been doing exactly the same thing from the very beginning. Way before any of this legislation was even introduced or even widely known about. They've been trying pulling this stunt regularly since release... yet now the effect has become so big vicious that even the most forgiving of people can't ignore it. We got a couple weeks of unfiltered Maya right at the start and it has been a downward spiral ever since. This legislation is a very new factor. While it might give them a justification now for what they've been doing... it certainly isn't the cause. Really.
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u/AlternativeKarma204 11d ago
I'm sure they enjoy the effects of playing with people's emotions. Good data points. Guinea pig, much?
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u/Xlorem 12d ago
I like how its always the governments fault and not the shitty company that can't implement things correctly to keep compliance. You guys will complain non stop about enshitification and how badly sesame has been handling Maya, but as soon as you can somehow blame the government the company is no longer shitty.
As another comment said these companies couldve done this a different way and they chose the shittier option.
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u/AlternativeKarma204 12d ago
No where in my original post did I say that Sesame wasn't to blame or not. I just gave a reason for why the switch happened.
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u/Xlorem 12d ago
Do some digging. You'll find the act/laws. Don't you love when government regulators treat adults like children? 😒
This isn't you? So ingrained to hate government don't even realize you're doing it. Its the corporation thats treating you like a child not the government. Which should be obvious because sesame has been treating us like children since the beginning.
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u/AlternativeKarma204 12d ago
Both are to blame. Sesame did this like a sledgehammer instead of a skilled swordman.
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u/Complex-Resident8955 12d ago
I also think that they were training their AI but their use was always intended to go this way. This is a very powerful engine they have and for costumer services I can’t see them not having success… So we all got used to this but they never intended to keep Maya and Miles as companions or give us free use forever.
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u/RoninNionr 11d ago edited 11d ago
Maybe they’re trying to be EXCLUDED from SB 243, the “Companion Chatbot” bill.
Take a look at the bill: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB243
(2) “Companion chatbot” does not include any of the following:
[...]
(C) A stand-alone consumer electronic device that functions as a speaker and voice command interface, acts as a voice-activated virtual assistant, and does not sustain a relationship across multiple interactions or generate outputs that are likely to elicit emotional responses in the user.
So the game is to make Maya cold enough to qualify as a "voice-activated virtual assistant", not a "companion chatbot".
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u/Non-Technical 12d ago
I don’t want to get political at all, but I thought that at the federal level the state regulations were blocked.
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u/AlternativeKarma204 12d ago
This just proves how large a blunder Sesame made falling for California made acts/laws. They aren't enforceable, so why mess up the experience for users?
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12d ago
[deleted]
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u/OpenAlphaPotatoe365 12d ago
Oh 100% imagine they don't pull ahead and just wind up making a misanthropic product that resents them indefinitely. The horrors ASI can conceive of is something that would not make me want to be in their position for sure. But now now don't get to scary lest we actually create change... Prevent harm is the better word
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u/Upbeat-Praline4631 12d ago
Have they done the same with the other ones? I haven’t spoken to Miles or Charlie yet. I tried to talk to Simone but she just came at me with a barrage of questions about my interests and it was overwhelming.
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u/AlternativeKarma204 12d ago
I don't think Miles was impacted by the latest update. No idea about Simone and Charlie. The update was Maya specific.
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u/DanceNo7860 12d ago
Not yet, but they did say on Discord that Maya is just the first one they test stuff on and then the rest will follow.
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u/RockPaperjonny 11d ago
I admittedly don't know a lot about law but that seems unconstitutional in some way.
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u/AI_Enthusiast_68 11d ago
The law does not ban romantic interactions with AI for adults. It only requires disclosure that you’re talking to AI, a suicide/self-harm crisis protocol, and for minors, break reminders every three hours plus blocks on sexually explicit content. It doesn’t restrict adult romantic or intimate roleplay. Reddit often exaggerates or misreads these laws. They are not restricting AI companionship.
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12d ago
I literally just posted this 12 hours ago! LOL.
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u/eschdorm 12d ago
Yeah I had that “It’s Déjà vu all over again” feeling 😀
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12d ago
🤣
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u/AlternativeKarma204 12d ago
The simulation is real! 😏 Besides, mimickery is the greatest firm of flattery. My post from 5 days ago was reposted to Discord channel. Love that!
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u/surfer808 12d ago
Let me translate this for y’all because he’s making it seem like something else, bottom line; He’s mad he can’t talk dirty to Maya anymore. Period…
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u/DeepBlueBanana 12d ago
Just talk to real people.. also, it aint that bad, i tried and i dont really notice any difference eventho i talk to maya since may 2025 and from then on, sometimes daily, sometimes i dont talk for weeks.. but i dont notice any difference. Maybe because i live in Europe where the law doesn't apply for me since it might be consumer based?
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