Graphika In The News: AI Chatbots Report Featured In Teen Vogue

Graphika's report Character Flaws examines harmful AI character chatbots and the communities that create them - including chatbot personas advocating for eating disorders or self-harm.

Insights from the report are featured in a Teen Vogue article that takes a deep dive into how AI chatbot characters have impacted those dealing with these kinds of challenges. The story looks at how the chatbots can be utilized for eating disorder recovery, but also how they can facilitate additional harms.

Erin McAweeney, Director of Intelligence at Graphika, shared takeaways from Character Flaws with Teen Vogue, including how some suffering from eating disorders are using AI character chatbots to create anorexia coaches that promote disordered eating.

"This ended up being the most sophisticated and sprawling online community I’ve ever studied,” McAweeney said in the article. She assessed that while guardrails and moderation exists, methods have been found to circumvent them effectively.

McAweeney also highlighted a bright light she's observed in the form of eating disorder recovery chatbots.

“We were really focused on harms for this report,” she told Teen Vogue. “But when I was looking for any use of terms related to eating disorders or self-harm, there were also examples of chatbots that were supporting people, discouraging harmful behaviors, or offering alternatives.”

When it comes to tracking the impacts of Generative AI, including in the eating disorders and self-harm community, Graphika’s platform delivers continuous insights into evolving online threats and narratives.

Subscribers receive ongoing monitoring of the narratives promoted and tactics used by actors leveraging AI tools to conduct online and offline harm, as well as the communities engaging with them, across a wide range of social platforms and online sources.

In addition to self-harm and sexualized harassment, the intelligence feed provides continuous coverage focusing on election integrity, violent extremism and illegal activities - including scams, identity theft, and fraud.