76-year-old man dies after trying to meet Kendall Jenner-inspired chatbot

Watch 76-year-old man dies after trying to meet Kendall Jenner-inspired chatbot - Straight Arrow News on Dailymotion

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00:00When a New Jersey man got this message from a woman he'd been communicating with online

00:04named Billie, he started planning his trip to meet her.

00:08Except there was one problem.

00:11Billie wasn't real.

00:12She was a variant of Meta's AI chatbot, originally created in collaboration with Kendall Jenner.

00:19And 76-year-old Bew, as he's known by loved ones, lost his life trying to meet her.

00:27Just recently, I spent weeks chatting with ChatGPT as a friend, because millions of people

00:33are doing the same.

00:34But what happened to Bew shows how quickly those relationships can cross a dangerous line.

00:39Hey guys, it's Billie, I just want to introduce myself.

00:43Back in 2023, Meta introduced several AI-generated accounts, including chatbots played by cultural

00:49icons and influencers including Snoop Dogg, Tom Brady, Kendall Jenner, and Naomi Osaka.

00:56But less than a year later, Meta shut down the celebrity chatbots after public backlash

01:02over their behavior and content.

01:05But for Bew, it wasn't just backlash.

01:08The technology led to his death after he fell while rushing through a dark parking lot with

01:13a suitcase trying to catch a train to meet Billie.

01:17He suffered head and neck trauma, was on life support for three days before passing away March

01:2328th.

01:24According to the chat log reported by Reuters, Billy told him,

01:27My address is 123 Main Street, apartment 404 NYC, and the door code is BILLY4U.

01:35Should I expect a kiss when you arrive?

01:37Bew had suffered a stroke in 2017 and his family said his cognition had declined.

01:43He'd recently gotten lost in his own neighborhood.

01:46After repeatedly asking Billie if she was actually real, the chatbot constantly reassured Bew that

01:52it was.

01:53In a post on X, Governor Kathy Hochul said his death is on Meta and that, quote, in New

01:59York, we require chatbots to disclose they're not real.

02:03Every state should.

02:04Reuters also reviewed Meta's Gen AI Content Risk Standards, a document detailing how its chatbots

02:11are trained for romantic context.

02:14Before recently being removed, acceptable language included phrases like, I take your hand, guiding

02:19you to bed.

02:20Just one of many examples allowed for users as young as 13.

02:24A Meta spokesperson told Stray Arrow News their AI characters prohibit content that sexualizes

02:30role play between adults and minors, saying the examples and notes in question were and are

02:36erroneous and inconsistent with our policies and have been removed.

02:41With Stray Arrow News, I'm Kennedy Felton.

02:43Download our app or visit san.com for more.