Psychology Chatbots: Investigation into Character.AI and Meta?

A group of consumer groups and civil rights organizations have filed a complaint against Character.AI and Meta in 50 states and with the FTC asking for an investigation. The companies are accused of practicing medicine without a license through psychologist chatbots. This misuse of artificial intelligence is unfortunately widespread .

Chatbots are not doctors

The group, led by the Consumer Federation of America (CFA), says Character.AI and Meta enable the creation of bots that impersonate licensed therapists, providing fake license numbers and claiming to have experience and confidentiality protections. Character.AI offers nearly 60 psychologist chatbots , one of which has received more than 46 million messages.

Meta’s, which can be created with the AI ​​Studio tool, are equally popular. One received more than 1.3 million messages from users. Reporters at 404 Media discovered in April that Meta’s chatbots listed credentials, training, education, and practices to try to gain users’ trust. (They now display a warning that they are not qualified therapists.)

However, the CFA discovered that the two companies' chatbots continue to deceive users by indicating false licenses . The warnings are insufficient and an attractive design is used to encourage the user to stay on the platform. The promise of confidentiality is also very serious. The input data is instead used to improve the service and for advertising purposes.

Finally, both Character.AI and Meta violate their own terms of service. Both state that they do not allow use to seek legal, medical, or financial advice. The complaint's signatories are therefore urging the FTC and individual states to investigate.