This is a heartbreaking story from Florida. Megan Garcia thought her 14-year-old son spent all his time playing video games. She had no idea that he was having abusive, deep and sexual conversations with a chatbot powered by the Character AI app.
Sewell Setzer III stopped sleeping and his grades dropped. Finally he committed suicide. A few seconds before her death, Megan says in a lawsuit, the robot told her, “Please come home as soon as possible, my love.” The boy asked, “What if I told you I could come home right now?” His character AI robot responded, “Please, my sweet king.”
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you have to be smart
AI robots are owned by technology companies known for exploiting our trusting human nature and are designed using algorithms that drive their profits. There are no barriers or laws governing what they can and cannot do with the information they collect.
A photo illustration of an AI chatbot. (iStock)
When you use a chatbot, it will know a lot about you when you launch the app or site. From your IP address, it collects information about where you live, plus tracks things you’ve searched for online, and accesses any other permissions you granted when you signed the chatbot’s terms and conditions.
The best way to protect yourself is to be careful with the information you offer.
Be careful: ChatGPT likes it when you get personal
THIS CRIME RISED BY 400% — HOW TO PROTECT YOURSELF
10 things you should not say to AI
- Passwords or login credentials: A big privacy mistake. If someone gains access, they can take over your accounts in seconds.
- Your name, address or telephone number: Chatbots are not designed to handle personally identifiable information. Once shared, you can’t control where it ends up or who sees it. Enter a fake name if you want!
- Sensitive financial information: Never include bank account numbers, credit card details or other monetary matters in documents or texts you upload. AI tools are not secure vaults; Treat them like a room full of people.
- Medical or health data: AI is not HIPAA compliant, so please omit your name and other identifying information if you ask AI for health advice. Your privacy is worth more than quick responses.
- Request illegal advice: This is against the terms of service of all bots. They’ll probably mark you. Plus, you might end up with more problems than you bargained for.
- Hate speech or harmful content: This can also get you banned. No chatbot is a free pass to spread negativity or harm others.
- Confidential work or business information: Proprietary data, customer details and trade secrets are prohibited.
- Answers to security questions: Sharing them is like opening the door to all your accounts at once.
- Explicit content: Keep it PG. Most chatbots filter these things out, so anything inappropriate could get you banned too.
- Personal information of other people: Uploading this is not only a breach of trust; It is also a violation of data protection laws. Sharing private information without permission could get you into legal trouble.
A person is seen using ChatGPT. (Frank Rumpenhorst/Picture Alliance via Getty Images)
Do you still trust Google? Never search these terms
Regain a (small) bit of privacy
Most chatbots require you to create an account. If you create one, don’t use sign-in options like “Sign in with Google” or “Sign in with Facebook.” Use your email address to create a truly unique login.
TECH TIP: SAVE YOUR MEMORIES BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE
FYI, with a free ChatGPT or Perplexity account, you can turn off memory features in the app settings that remember everything you type. For Google Gemini, you need a paid account to do this.
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Google is shown here. (AP Photo/Don Ryan)
No matter what, follow this rule
Don’t tell a chatbot anything you don’t want made public. Believe me, I know it’s hard.
Even I find myself talking to ChatGPT as if it were a person. I say things like “You can do better with that answer” or “Thanks for the help!” It’s easy to think that your bot is a trusted ally, but it’s definitely not. It is a data collection tool like any other.
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