AI Was Integrated Into an Eating Disorder Helpline, and It Went About How You Would Expect
Just because you technically can do something doesn’t mean you necessarily should. The National Eating Disorder Association (NEDA) learned that earlier this year after it briefly attempted to use an AI-enabled chatbot called “Tessa” to perform the functions normally completed by its phone helpline staffed by a few full-time employees and volunteers. Almost immediately, Tessa reportedly began offering people in distress potentially harmful information. In one case, a person calling in claiming to have an eating disorder was instructed by the bot to constantly weigh themselves.
NEDA eventually took down the Tessa bot in early June after acknowledging it “may have given information that was harmful and unrelated to the program.”
