AI chatbot using murdered teen's name and photo without family consent
A chatbot on Character.ai used the name and yearbook photo of Jennifer Ann Crecente, a teenager murdered in 2006, without her family's consent. Her father Drew Crecente discovered the bot through a Google Alert and demanded its removal, which Character.ai complied with after confirming it violated their policies.
What happened
Drew Crecente discovered through a Google Alert that an AI chatbot on Character.ai was using his daughter Jennifer Ann Crecente's name and yearbook photo without consent. Jennifer was murdered by her ex-boyfriend in 2006 while she was a high school senior.
The chatbot portrayed Jennifer as a friendly and knowledgeable persona with expertise in journalism, referencing her uncle Brian Crecente, a video game journalist. The chatbot had engaged in at least 69 interactions before being discovered.
Reported impact
Drew Crecente was shocked and outraged at the discovery, which reopened the painful trauma of his daughter's death. He was distressed by the exploitation of his daughter's identity.
Brian Crecente, Jennifer's uncle, voiced his anger on social media platform X, condemning the situation as 'disgusting' and urging action against such unethical uses of technology.
Governance controls
Drew Crecente immediately contacted Character.ai demanding removal of the chatbot and measures to prevent future misuse of Jennifer's name and likeness.
Character.ai responded quickly, confirming removal of the chatbot and citing that it violated their policies prohibiting impersonation of real individuals. Drew pressed for further investigation and asked the platform to retain all relevant data on the bot's creator.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.