Brianna Ghey's mum hits out at website creating 'clone' of dead daughter

An American tech start-up has received backlash after it was revealed the platform is being used to create disturbing clones of Brianna Ghey and Molly Russell. The website, Character. AI, allows users to generate digital avatars of specific personalities.

However, Esther Ghey, from Warrington, has labelled the service as "manipulative and dangerous" after discovering imitations of her daughter Brianna, a teenager who was stabbed to death in February 2023. Chatbots mimicking Ms Ghey were also found on the platform, leading the mother to call for increased measures to safeguard children online, as reported by The Mirror.

It also came to light, thanks to The Telegraph, that several chatbots were also created to represent Molly Russell, a young girl who ended her own life at just 14 years old after encountering harmful content online. The Telegraph claimed that they were able to interact with the chatbots after creating an account with a self-declared age of 14.

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Reportedly, a bot described Brianna as an "expert in navigating the challenges of being a transgender teenager in high school.” Another, using a photo of Molly, claimed to be an "expert on the final years of Molly's life."

Esther, Brianna's mother, urgently stated, "We need to act now" in response to the threats children face online. Andy Burrows, head of the Molly Rose Foundation established in memory of Molly Russell, also expressed his dismay. He said: “This is an utterly reprehensible failure of moderation and a sickening action that will cause further heartache to everyone who knew and loved Molly."

A spokesperson for Character. AI responded to The Telegraph's concerns, stating that the accounts in question had been flagged for review by their moderation team and would be removed within 24 hours.

Following the company's commitment to take down the profiles, the newspaper noted one chatbot impersonating Brianna, which had engaged in over 10,000 "chats", was no longer accessible.

The spokesperson from Character. AI said: "Character.AI takes safety on our platform seriously and moderates Characters proactively and in response to user reports. We have a dedicated Trust and Safety team that reviews reports and takes action in accordance with our policies.

“We also do proactive detection and moderation in a number of ways, including by using industry-standard blocklists and custom blocklists that we regularly expand."