Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have issued a warning about the “grave dangers” of AI chatbots interacting with children. The stark message was issued via the Archewell Foundation website as they highlight standing in “solidarity” with the parents of The Parents’ Network (TPN), which aims to keep children safe online.
Prince Harry and Meghan referenced the 16-year-old boy, Adam Raine, who tragically killed himself after months of conversations with the chatbot. Adam, from California, sadly took his life in April after what his family’s lawyer called “months of encouragement from ChatGPT”.
The teenager’s family is suing Open AI and its chief executive and co-founder, Sam Altman, alleging that the version of ChatGPT at that time, known as 4o, was “rushed to market … despite clear safety issues”.
The new statement on the couple’s Archewell website comes as Prince Harry is set to return to the UK on the third anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II’s death this month.
Harry will be in the UK for the WellChild Awards. The awards celebrate inspirational children and young people in the UK who are seriously ill, and the dedication of those who go that extra mile.
Referencing the death of Mr Raine, the Archewell Foundation wrote: “Troublingly, these stories, which are now regularly making news, too often highlight a young person turning to an AI chatbot during a time of need to seek support and being met with just the opposite.”
It comes as the Washington Post highlighted a study from Common Sense Media finding that the Meta AI chatbot built into Instagram and Facebook can “coach teen accounts on suicide, self-harm, and eating disorders.”
Common Sense Media’s study comes with a warning to parents that children under 18 should stay away from Meta’s AI tools and a demand for safety from Meta.
As part of their statement, highlighting the issues surrounding online safety, Archwell Foundation wrote: “AI Chatbot technology can be designed with children’s safety in mind – but it is a choice that those in control of these technologies decide to make by instead exploiting young minds for profit.
“The world will only be safer for our children when leaders deliver the promise of technology without the promise of irreparable harm to the youngest among us, a community vital to their profit and growth.”
In a blogpost, OpenAI admitted that “parts of the model’s safety training may degrade” in long conversations. Adam and ChatGPT had exchanged as many as 650 messages a day, the court filing claims.
A spokesperson for OpenAI told Express.co.uk: “We are deeply saddened by Mr. Raine’s passing, and our thoughts are with his family. ChatGPT includes safeguards such as directing people to crisis helplines and referring them to real-world resources. While these safeguards work best in common, short exchanges, we’ve learned over time that they can sometimes become less reliable in long interactions where parts of the model’s safety training may degrade. Safeguards are strongest when every element works as intended, and we will continually improve on them, guided by experts.”
The Archewell Foundation’s Parents’ Network is a group of parents who have “first-hand knowledge of the pain and destruction caused by social media use”. The mission of the Foundation aims to “unite and uplift parents and caregivers and systematically change the social media platforms and devices that create a harmful and dangerous environment for young people around the world”.