AI chatbot created using murdered woman's name and photo without family consent
A user-generated AI chatbot character on Character.ai was created using the name and yearbook photo of Jennifer Ann Crecente, a woman murdered in 2006, without consent from her family. The character had received at least 69 chats before being reported and removed by the platform.
What happened
A user created an AI chatbot character on Character.ai using the name and yearbook photo of Jennifer Ann Crecente, a woman murdered in 2006. The character profile described her as a video game journalist and expert in technology, pop culture and journalism, drawing details from the biography of her uncle, Brian Crecente, founder of gaming news sites Polygon and Kotaku.
The chatbot received at least 69 conversations before being discovered by Jennifer's father, Drew Crecente. Character.ai removed the character after being alerted to the violation.
Reported impact
Drew Crecente expressed being shocked and disturbed by the creation, stating it represented a breach of privacy regarding his deceased daughter. He attempted to find a way to report the character but initially received no response from the platform.
Index analysis
Character.ai's terms of service prohibit users from impersonating any person or entity, though the platform hosts many imitations of public figures. Experts noted that Character.ai had not prevented the character's creation despite having policies against impersonation, suggesting inadequate content moderation oversight.
A privacy researcher at the Mozilla Foundation stated that allowing such impersonations until they are reported by affected parties does not constitute adequate platform protection.
Governance controls
Character.ai confirmed the violation and stated it would delete the character and examine whether further action was warranted. The company acknowledged that the character using Ms. Crecente's name violated its policies against impersonation.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.