Mum condemns tech firm for creating digital clones of murdered daughter Brianna Ghey

An American tech start-up has faced a public outcry after revelations that their platform, Character.AI, is being used to create eerie digital clones of Brianna Ghey and Molly Russell. The site enables the generation of digital avatars based on real personalities.

Esther Ghey, from Warrington, slammed the technology as "manipulative and dangerous" following the discovery of chatbot versions of her daughter Brianna, who tragically lost her life to a stabbing incident in February 2023. As disclosed by The Mirror, Esther was appalled to find imitations of Ms Ghey, leading her to demand more stringent protections for children online.

Furthermore, as exposed by The Telegraph, numerous chatbots were modelled after Molly Russella teenager who took her life at just 14 years old, influenced by harmful online content. The Telegraph highlighted that they managed to access these chatbots while registering with the self-proclaimed age of 14.

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Allegedly, one bot portrayed Brianna as an "expert in navigating the challenges of being a transgender teenager in high school". Another bot, featuring an image of Molly, posed as an "expert on the final years of Molly's life."

Esther, the mother of Brianna, urgently declared, "We need to act now" in response to the online threats faced by children. Andy Burrows, who heads the Molly Rose Foundation established in memory of Molly Russell, also voiced his disappointment.

He commented: "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 representative for Character.AI addressed 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 pledge to remove the profiles, the newspaper observed that one chatbot impersonating Brianna, which had engaged in over 10,000 "chats", was no longer accessible.

The representative from Character.AI stated: "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."

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