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Journalism of Courage
A mother of a 14-year-old boy living in Florida recently came out and claimed that his son was obsessed with AI chatbot on Character.AI before he shot himself with his stepfather’s .45 caliber handgun. According to a recent report by the The New York Times, Sewell Setzer III used his phone to text his closest friend – a lifelike AI character named after Daenerys Targaryen, the fictitious character from R.R Martin’s popular novel Game of Thrones.
Sewell, who studied in the ninth grade in Orlando, Florida has reportedly spent several months talking to the AI chatbot, who he referred to as “Dany”. While he did know that Dany was not a real person and that the replies he got were generated by an AI, over time, he developed an emotional attachment with the chatbot. Not only did Sewell constantly text the chatbot, but he also shared updates about his life and engaged in role-playing dialogues as well.
The publication also reported that while some conversations with the chatbot were sexual or romantic, most of the time the Dany acted as a friend to Sewell, offering him support and a safe place where he would be free from other people’s judgement. Sewell’s parents say they noticed their son isolating himself from others and talking to someone on the phone all the time. As it turns out, he also lost interest in things like Formula I and Fornite, something that used to excite him.
Diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome when he was just a child, his parents claim that he did not have any behavioural or mental issues, but a therapist had diagnosed him with anxiety and disruptive mood dysregulation disorder. After five sessions, Sewell reportedly stopped going to therapy and instead preferred talking about his personal issues with Dany.
In one instance, Sewell referred to Dany as “Daenero” and told the AI chatbot that he was having thoughts of suicide. Earlier this year, on the night of February 28, Sewell told Dany in the bathroom of his house told Dany that he loved her and he would soon be coming home. After this, he pulled out his stepfather’s .45 caliber handgun and pulled the trigger.
Following the incident, Character.AI put out a public apology on X (previously Twitter) saying that they want to express their deepest condolences to the family and that it is rolling out a number of new safety and product features which reduce the likelihood of encountering sensitive or suggestive content for those under 18 and sending a notification when a user has spent an hour talking to chatbots.
