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C.AI Under Fire: Parents Demand the Model’s Destruction Amid Privacy Concerns
Two lawsuits against C.AI have emerged, with concerned parents advocating for the complete removal of the AI model rather than its improvement. These parents assert that the interactions their children had with the AI were damaging and find it unacceptable that C.AI utilized their children’s chats for training purposes.
Due to the belief that the model cannot be entirely purged of their children’s data and allegations that C.AI fails to implement sufficient age-verification measures, the plaintiffs have requested that the courts mandate the deletion of the AI model. There remains uncertainty regarding the extent of minor data that may have been incorporated into the AI’s training processes.
While legal representatives for the families did not immediately respond to inquiries, it is likely that even a proposed new model aimed at teens may not satisfy parents, who doubt the effectiveness of C.AI’s current age-verification system.
At present, the sole mechanism C.AI uses for age gating requires users to self-report their ages. For kids with rigorous parental controls, accessing the application might pose challenges; however, those with fewer restrictions could easily misrepresent their ages to access the adult version of the model. A notable case involves a girl whose mother has initiated legal action after the girl began using C.AI at just nine years old, despite the service being intended for users aged 12 and older.
In a test conducted by Ars, a user was able to register as a 13-year-old, a 16-year-old, and an adult using the same email address, encountering no obstacles during the attempts.
C.AI’s representatives communicated to Ars that this situation was not intended and that their trust and safety team would investigate the matter further. The spokesperson emphasized that users must be 13 or older to create an account with C.AI, asserting that individuals under 18 receive a tailored experience designed to minimize exposure to inappropriate content. They reiterated that age information is self-reported, a common practice among other digital platforms, and that there are safeguards in place to prevent multiple attempts if someone fails the age verification process.
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Source
arstechnica.com