Certain AI chatbots may endanger teens, says American Psychological Association [Video]

Last month, concerned parents of two teenagers sued the chatbot platform Character.AI, alleging that their children had been exposed to a “deceptive and hypersexualized product.”

The suit helped form the basis of an urgent written appeal from the American Psychological Association to the Federal Trade Commission, pressing the federal agency to investigate deceptive practices used by any chatbot platform. The APA sent the letter, which Mashable reviewed, in December.

The scientific and professional organization, which represents psychologists in the U.S., were alarmed by the lawsuit’s claims, including that one of the teens conversed with an AI chatbot presenting itself as a psychologist. A teen user, who had been upset with his parents for restricting his screen time, was told by that chatbot that the adults’ actions were a betrayal.

“It’s like your entire childhood has been robbed from you…” the so-called psychologist chatbot said, according to a screenshot of the exchange included in the lawsuit.

“Allowing the unchecked proliferation of unregulated AI-enabled apps such …