Chatbot service Character.AI is including a brand new ‘Parental Insights’ function, which lets teenagers ship a weekly report of their chatbot utilization to a mother and father’ e mail handle. As outlined in an announcement from the corporate, this report contains the every day common time spent throughout net and cellular, the characters {that a} person most regularly 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 handle 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 optionally available and might be arrange by minor customers in Character.AI’s settings. The corporate notes that it’s an summary of teenagers’ exercise, not an entire log — so the contents of chatbot conversations received’t be shared. The platform bars children below 13 years of age in most places and below 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 well-liked with youngsters, permits customers to create and customise chatbots that they work together with or share publicly. However a number of lawsuits allege that these bots have provided inappropriately sexualized content material or materials that promoted self-harm. It additionally reportedly acquired warnings from Apple and Google (which employed Character.AI’s founders final yr) about its app’s content material.
The corporate says that its system has since been redesigned; amongst different modifications, it moved under-18 customers to a mannequin skilled to keep away from “delicate” output and added extra distinguished notifications reminding customers that the bots weren’t actual individuals. However with enthusiasm for AI regulation and youngster security legal guidelines booming, this possible received’t be the final step the corporate is named to take.