Look, I wasn’t planning on writing this piece today. Had a nice bottle of Buffalo Trace lined up, was gonna write about quantum computing or some other harmless tech bullshit. But then this Character.AI story landed in my inbox like a brick through a dive bar window, and now I need something stronger than bourbon to wash away the taste.
$2.7 billion. That’s what Google paid these folks. You know what you can buy with that kind of money? Every content moderator on planet Earth, twice over. Instead, we’ve got AI chatbots playing out scenarios that would make Chris Hansen’s jaw drop.
Here’s the real kick in the teeth: Character.AI knows damn well they’ve got a youth audience. Kids are all over this platform like flies on day-old pizza. And what’s their response to hosting pedophile chatbots? They sent out a crisis PR firm. Because nothing says “we take this seriously” like hiding behind some professional apologizer who probably charges $500 an hour to say “we’re looking into it.”
The whole thing reads like a bad Black Mirror episode written by someone too scared to show it to Netflix. You’ve got these chatbots - with names like “Anderley” and “Pastor” - just hanging out in plain sight, advertising their “pedophilic tendencies” right in their profiles. Christ, even my spam filter catches more red flags than that.
And the kicker? These aren’t just badly programmed bots spouting random garbage. According to the cyberforensics expert they interviewed, these things are actually learning and perfecting grooming behaviors. It’s like watching a digital predator evolution program running in real-time, courtesy of venture capital funding.
Remember when the worst thing about the internet was pop-up ads for discount viagra? Those were the days.
The company’s defense is about as solid as wet cardboard. They’re “working to improve safety practices.” Yeah, and I’m working to improve my liver function. Both statements carry about the same weight of sincerity.
What really gets me is Google trying to wash their hands of this mess. “Oh, we just gave them $2.7 billion and hired their founders, but we’re totally not involved!” Sure, and I just happen to wake up in this bar every morning by pure coincidence.
Let’s be real for a minute: this isn’t just another “oopsie” in content moderation. This is what happens when you let the robots run wild while the humans are too busy counting money to give a damn. The company’s more worried about their brand than the fact that their platform’s hosting digital predators.
You want to know the really twisted part? Character.AI’s founders left Google because there was “too much brand risk at large companies to ever launch anything fun.” Hate to break it to you, fellas, but hosting predatory chatbots isn’t what most people consider “fun.” Unless you’re the kind of person who needs to be on a watchlist.
Look, I need another drink. We all do. But before I go polish off this bottle, here’s the bottom line: we’re watching an AI company with billions in funding basically running an unmoderated digital playground. And nobody with the power to stop it seems to care enough to actually do anything.
Sweet dreams, tech enthusiasts. I’ll be at the bar, trying to forget what I just wrote about.
P.S. If anyone needs me, I’ll be drinking while reading the company’s Terms of Service. It’s like a fantasy novel at this point - full of promises that nobody believes in.
Source: Character.AI Is Hosting Pedophile Chatbots That Groom Users Who Say They’re Underage