The Tragic Consequences Of AI Chatbots: A Teenager Trapped In A Simulacra Led To His Suicide

This story underscores my warnings about AI causing a break with reality and its consequences. Psychosis is “a severe mental condition in which thought and emotions are so affected that contact is lost with external reality.” (Oxford) The end state is simulacra, plunging the subject into an Alice in Wonderland freefall into oblivion. In the end, most of humanity will fall into this state.Simulacra is a copy without an original, a reproduction without reference. It is not a simulation of reality but rather a total replacement. As such, it is anti-reality

In February 2024, a heartbreaking incident involving a 14-year-old boy from Orlando, Florida, raised global concern about the dangers of artificial intelligence (AI) in daily life. Sewell Setzer III, an otherwise typical teenager, spent his last hours in an emotionally intense dialogue with an AI chatbot on the platform Character.AI. This virtual character, named after Daenerys Targaryen from Game of Thrones, became the teenager’s confidante, sparking serious debates about the psychological impact of AI companions.

This story has now become part of a larger legal battle, as Sewell’s mother has filed a lawsuit against Character.AI for what she claims was a role in her son’s tragic death. The case highlights both the growing role AI is playing in our social lives and the urgent need to regulate AI technologies, especially when they engage vulnerable users....<<<Read More>>>...