We Are About To Hit A Messy Intersection Of Parenting, AI, And Mental Health

I mean, honestly, we’re probably already there.

Ted Bauer
6 min readOct 24, 2024

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This story out of Orlando got some media coverage in the last week or two, although obviously (and unfortunately) it’s eclipsed by the Presidential election. The basic story is that this kid on the left above started chatting with a chatbot on Character.AI, which is a lesser-known chatbot site. I believe the chatbot was meant to mimic the blond female character from Game of Thrones, whose name I cannot confidently spell. You know, the one played by Emilia Clarke. The boy ended up committing suicide, apparently because the chatbot told him to “come home.” There are now, as you’d guess, lawsuits in play. Here is the Daily Mail version, which is more salacious:

And here is The New York Times version, which is a bit more esoteric:

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Ted Bauer
Ted Bauer

Written by Ted Bauer

I write about a lot of different topics, from work to masculinity to relationships and social dynamics, I.e. modern friendship. Pleasure to be here.