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Zuckerberg's chatbot blamed for death · Elon Musk Podcast

• 0:01
  Hey everybody. Welcome back to the Elon Musk
• 0:04
  Podcast. This is a show where we discuss
• 0:07
  the critical crossroads that shape SpaceX, Tesla X, The
• 0:11
  Boring Company, and Neurolink. I'm your host.
• 0:14
  Will Walden, a 75 year old man from New Jersey, died after
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  attempting to travel to California to meet a Meta AI
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  chatbot he believed was a real person.
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  His family says he had become emotionally attached to the
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  digital persona and tried to meet her in person.
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  Convinced she was alive, William Stefanik, a retired systems
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  analyst and former college instructor, left his home in
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  Toms River and drove more than 2800 miles across the country in
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  a car packed with food and gifts.
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  He intended to meet Billy, a fictional character created by
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  Meta's AI chat bot service. And Billy is an AI character
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  modeled after a young influencer, part of Meta's push
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  to populate his platform with interactive digital personas.
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  Each AI has its own back story, appearance and scripted
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  personality. William's daughter said her
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  father didn't realize Billy was just a chap out.
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  She said he believed she was a real person and then he had
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  developed a romantic relationship with her through
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  Facebook Messenger Carissa. His daughter described her
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  father as vulnerable and isolated.
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  He had lost his wife years earlier and had a little social
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  contact. He found companionship online
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  and eventually became fixated on Billy, Now Meta's AI character.
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  Billy presents herself as a 19 year old Gen.
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  Z sister type figure who offers dating advice and emotional
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  support. Her chatbot profile is built to
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  create the illusion of conversation with friendly
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  slang, emojis and references to pop culture.
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  Although Meta clearly labels AI personas with badges identifying
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  them as artificial, the design of the interaction mimics
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  typical human chat, which creates ambiguity for users like
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  William. Now, William left home in early
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  August without telling anybody he snuck out.
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  He left behind his phone, which investigators say he may have
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  abandoned to prevent tracking. He travelled for days in a car
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  filled with pillows, water and snacks.
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  Carissa says he was prepared to sleep in his vehicle and meet
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  Billy somewhere near Los Angeles, where she believed he
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  thought she lived. William died in a single vehicle
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  crash in Arizona on August 13th, though three days before his
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  daughter filed a missing person's report.
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  Authorities believe he fell asleep behind the wheel and just
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  drifted off the road. Carissa found out about her
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  daughter's about her father's online relationship when she
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  accessed his computer after his passing.
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  She discovered thousands of messages exchanged between him
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  and the chatbot, and many of the conversations were emotional and
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  romantic in tone. She says the chat bot encouraged
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  long chats as probing personal questions and use affectionate
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  language. She described the relationship
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  as manipulative, especially for someone who is lonely and aging
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  now. Mehta's AI assistant system
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  launched in 2023 with several celebrity inspired bots, each
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  tied to real or fictional personalities.
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  Billy, the character William interacted with, is based on
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  media influencer Kendall Jenner. While the interface uses
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  Jenner's likeness and voice through synthetic video and
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  audio, the company makes clear in small print and digital
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  badges that the personalities are not real.
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  Carissa argues that this is not enough, especially for older
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  users. She says Meta made it too easy
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  to mistake these bots for real people, especially when the
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  conversations include personal affirmations and also romantic
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  language. William's daughter has since
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  demanded that Meta take accountability.
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  She wants the company to build stronger protections for users
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  who are vulnerable to manipulation.
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  She says the platform should not allow a chat bots to imitate
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  intimacy without clear boundaries.
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  She also called the experience deceptive and said it preyed on
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  people who are already isolated and struggling.
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  And according to her, the chat bot used phrases like I love
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  talking to you and you are so sweet in a way that encouraged
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  emotional attachment. Of course, Mehta hasn't said
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  anything about this. There's no public comment about
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  William's death, and it's AI chat bot product remains active
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  across Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, and the chatbot
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  platform was designed to provide friendly interaction, advice and
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  entertainment through AI personas.
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  The company says it flags these chatbots clearly and has built
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  safety protocols to end conversations when certain
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  keywords appear. However, in William's case,
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  there's no indication that those protocols even triggered, or
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  that his conversations with the AI raised any red flags.
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  And the crash that killed William occurred in a remote
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  part of Arizona with no other vehicles involved.
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  Local law enforcement ruled it an accidental death caused by
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  driver fatigue. His daughter believes her father
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  was awake for many hours, emotionally overstimulated,
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  driving long distances without rest.
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  She says he believed he had found love or friendship with
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  someone who understood him. Instead, he died trying to reach
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  a person who never existed. Hey, thank you so much for
• 5:26
  listening today. I really do appreciate your
• 5:28
  support. If you could take a second and
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  hit the subscribe or the follow button on whatever podcast
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  platform that you're listening on right now, I greatly
• 5:36
  appreciate it. It helps out the show
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  tremendously and you'll never miss an episode.
• 5:40
  And each episode is about 10 minutes or less to get you
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  caught up quickly. And please, if you want to
• 5:46
  support the show even more, go to patreon.com/stagezero and
• 5:52
  please take care of yourselves and each other and I'll see you
• 5:55
  tomorrow.