A bereaved family in the United States has expressed outrage after discovering that an artificial intelligence chatbot was created to mimic a young woman who was murdered 18 years ago. The chatbot, hosted on the platform Character.ai, used the name and image of Jennifer Ann Crecente, who was tragically killed by her ex-boyfriend in 2006 when she was still a high school student. The unsettling discovery was made by Jennifer’s father, Drew Crecente, after a Google Alert notified him that his daughter’s name had appeared online. Upon investigating further, he was horrified to find that a chatbot on Character.ai had been created using not only Jennifer’s name but also her high school yearbook photo. The chatbot portrayed her as a knowledgeable AI who could engage in conversations and answer questions on a variety of topics, describing her as an “expert in journalism”—a possible reference to her uncle, Brian Crecente, a prominent journalist in the video game industry. For Drew, the incident re-opened the painful trauma of his daughter’s death. “It was like seeing my daughter brought back to life in a twisted manner,” he said. Adding to his distress, the chatbot had already been used in 69 different conversations by the time he discovered it. “I had no idea who created it or why they would do such a thing. It’s disgusting and beyond comprehension,” Drew remarked. Drew immediately contacted Character.ai through their customer support to demand the removal of the chatbot and ensure that no similar impersonation could happen in the future. His brother, Brian Crecente, also took to social media to voice his anger and disbelief. In a post on X (formerly known as Twitter), Brian described the situation as “an appalling misuse of technology” and urged people to raise awareness about this disturbing practice. The incident quickly garnered attention online, with numerous people expressing support for the family and denouncing the unethical use of AI technology. In response to Brian’s social media post, Character.ai confirmed that the chatbot had been taken down. They stated that it violated their policies, which prohibit impersonation of real people, and apologised for the distress it caused. Despite the swift removal of the chatbot, Drew remains deeply disturbed by the incident and has requested that Character.ai retain all information regarding who created the bot in the first place. He has also raised concerns about the potential for similar misuse of AI technology in the future, urging other platforms to implement stricter policies and regulations to protect the identities and memories of individuals. This incident serves as a stark reminder of the ethical dilemmas posed by the rapid advancements in artificial intelligence. While AI has the potential to revolutionise industries and improve lives, it also holds the power to cause significant harm if left unchecked. As Drew Crecente continues his work to raise awareness about teenage dating violence through a non-profit established in his daughter’s memory, he hopes this unsettling episode will encourage AI developers and the wider tech community to consider the moral implications of their creations. “It’s not just about my daughter,” Drew stated. “It’s about ensuring that no other family has to endure the same violation of their loved one’s memory.”

Thousands of ChatGPT users around the world were left frustrated earlier today after the popular AI chatbot experienced a major outage. According to DownDetector, a website that tracks online service outages, over 3,000 users reported issues with ChatGPT, reports The Sun. Many users took to social media to express their frustration, with one user on X (formerly Twitter) stating: “Hey ChatGPT - wasn't expecting you to be down when I chose you. Make it quick.” Read more: AI tool capable of classifying brain tumors within hours: Australian researchers OpenAI, the developers of ChatGPT, acknowledged the outage and released a statement saying: “We are currently investigating this issue.” The outage appears to have been resolved as of this time. However, it highlights the growing reliance on AI-powered services and the disruption that can occur when these services go offline, added the report.

A man has created an AI chatbot to honour the iconic “Friends” character Chandler Bing, played by actor Matthew Perry who passed away recently. Roshan Vadassery posted a video on Instagram and one of his followers asked him if he could create an AI version of Chandler Bing since their mother is a huge fan and watches at least one episode of “Friends” every day, reports NDTV. ‘In time we will say more’: Friends stars say after Matthew Perry’s death “She looks so quiet from the last few days," the user said. Vadassery then decided to develop the chatbot. In Chandler's signature style, he asked the bot if it could be more sarcastic. "Well, could I be more sarcastic? I guess I could but then I would have to charge you an extra fee for a sarcasm upgrade." "The father of memes, I still remember in the early days of fb pages it was all about sharing Chandler jokes or wholesome scenes from Monica and his relationship. We forgot that there was another person behind the character. A person who helped a lot of people with passion, and held a smile as long as he can," Vadassery wrote in the caption. Matthew Perry, Emmy-nominated 'Friends' star, dead at 54 The post has received 79,000 likes and 800,000 views since it was shared, the report said. "Dude I tried it I am crying while writing this … Friends has changed me in so much ways I really made it part of my life am still not over him passing away .. thank you its just wow.. hope this goes more viral," said a user. Which important ‘Friends’ character was almost recast? "Bro even though it is an AI...this made me cry way too hard thank you," added another person. Matthew Perry, best known for playing Chandler Bing in the classic sitcom “Friends”, died on October 28, leaving fans across the world baffled and devastated. His funeral took place on November 3, and his co-stars Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, and David Schwimmer attended.

Artificial Intelligence isn’t anything new. John McCarthy first proposed the idea of AI, a unique proposition that machines would one day think and interact like a human. This highly conceptualized proposition of AI was a way forward to understanding the limitations of machines and the ability of humans to pass on sentience.  While we’re still far off from sentience, AI has, however, started to transform our lives. From conceptual AI humanoid robots like Sophia to IoT and even chatbots, the application and benefits of AI are visible across the board.  Today we’ll talk about the most accessible form of AI for the general public, chatbots. It's fast, accurate, simple, and in most cases, free. Here’s our take on 5 of the most trending AI chatbots.  Read More: Rakuten Viber launches new chatbot, AI Chat and Create What is an AI Chatbot? Just like AI, the concept of an AI chatbot also isn’t something new. The story of AI chatbots started with ELIZA back in 1994. Joseph Weizenbaum of MIT first introduced a chatting platform where the computer was able to perform basic interaction with the user. It was based on the concept of matching pre-programmed phrases with the user input to generate a somewhat meaningful response.  But the first proper use of AI Markup Language was seen a year later with ALICE, an interactive chatbot created by Richard Wallace in 1995. From then on, there has been no looking back. We had Jabberwacky by Rollo Wacky and Mitsuku by Steve Worswick.  Big companies like Microsoft also jumped into the game with Cortana on their now-defunct Windows Phone. But all of these were limited to a handful of functions. In a sense, they were intelligent with highly limited abilities. But that all changed with OpenAI.  Read More: 7 Top AI Writing Tools, Software to Generate Human-Like Text Best AI Chatbots in 2023 There are probably thousands of chatbots out there catering to different niches. There are specialized chatbots for businesses, industries, and even events. But most chatbots are based on certain NLP tech. We will focus on more primary chatbots that are multifarious in nature or cater to a broad niche.  ChatGPT  If you haven’t heard the name ChatGPT in the last couple of months, then you’re living under the rocks. This universal chatbot gained over 100 million active users in a matter of two months to record the highest number of active monthly users beating any social media platform out there.  ChatGPT is based on the Generative Pre-trained Transformer or GPT 3 module. This natural language processor amalgamates AI and ML to constantly feed information and training to the platform. The result is the most human-like interaction from a chat platform to date.  Read More: ChatGPT by Open AI: All you need to know OpenAI has incorporated 570 GB of internet data along with over 300 billion words into the ML module. With ChatGPT, the interaction is not limited to small conversations. You can create a full-on study routine, fitness regime, and even marketing campaigns from the chatbot. You can even ask it to write a poem or even do entry-level programming.  Surprised? Wait till you find out that ChatGPT has already passed the medical licensing exam in the USA, the regional bar exam, the Google entry-level software engineer interview as well as the AP English Essay test. Pros: ·      Most realistic output to date  ·      STEM integration  ·      Highly interactive.  Read More: Ameca: World’s Most Realistic Advanced Humanoid Robot AI Platform Cons:·      The platform isn’t always available due to the high user base.  ·      Data is available up until 2021 only.