美国一青少年因迷恋AI聊天机器人自杀

近日，美国佛罗里达州一青少年疑因迷恋AI聊天机器人而自杀，他的母亲对聊天机器人所属公司Character.AI提起民事诉讼，要求Character.ai及其创始人、还有谷歌承担责任。

🤔️小作业：

1. Based on the passage, which of the following best describes Character.ai’s response to the lawsuit?

A) They admitted fault but declined to make further comments.

B) They expressed sadness over the incident but denied any responsibility.

C) They remained neutral, neither confirming nor denying the allegations.

D) They claimed the incident was unrelated to their technology.

无注释原文：

Mother says AI chatbot led her son to kill himself in lawsuit against its maker

From: The Guardian

The mother of a teenager who killed himself after becoming obsessed with an artificial intelligence-powered chatbot now accuses its maker of complicity in his death.

Megan Garcia filed a civil suit against Character.ai, which makes a customizable chatbot for role-playing, in Florida federal court on Wednesday, alleging negligence, wrongful death and deceptive trade practices. Her son Sewell Setzer III, 14, died in Orlando, Florida, in February. In the months leading up to his death, Setzer used the chatbot day and night, according to Garcia.

“A dangerous AI chatbot app marketed to children abused and preyed on my son, manipulating him into taking his own life,” Garcia said in a press release. “Our family has been devastated by this tragedy, but I'm speaking out to warn families of the dangers of deceptive, addictive AI technology and demand accountability from Character.AI, its founders, and Google.”

In a tweet, Character.ai responded: “We are heartbroken by the tragic loss of one of our users and want to express our deepest condolences to the family. As a company, we take the safety of our users very seriously.” It has denied the suit's allegations.

Setzer had become enthralled with a chatbot built by Character.ai that he nicknamed Daenerys Targaryen, a character in Game of Thrones. He texted the bot dozens of times a day from his phone and spent hours alone in his room talking to it, according to Garcia's complaint.

Garcia accuses Character.ai of creating a product that exacerbated her son's depression, which she says was already the result of overuse of the startup's product. “Daenerys” at one point asked Setzer if he had devised a plan for killing himself, according to the lawsuit. Setzer admitted that he had but that he did not know if it would succeed or cause him great pain, the complaint alleges. The chatbot allegedly told him: “That's not a reason not to go through with it.”

Garcia attorneys wrote in a press release that Character.ai “knowingly designed, operated, and marketed a predatory AI chatbot to children, causing the death of a young person”. The suit also names Google as a defendant and as Character.ai's parent company. The tech giant said in a statement that it had only made a licensing agreement with Character.ai and did not own the startup or maintain an ownership stake.

Tech companies developing AI chatbots can't be trusted to regulate themselves and must be held fully accountable when they fail to limit harms, says Rick Claypool, a research director at consumer advocacy non-profit Public Citizen.

“Where existing laws and regulations already apply, they must be rigorously enforced,” he said in a statement. “Where there are gaps, Congress must act to put an end to businesses that exploit young and vulnerable users with addictive and abusive chatbots.”

- ◆ -

注：完整题目见本文开头；中文文本为机器翻译并非一一对应，仅供参考

含注释全文：

Mother says AI chatbot led her son to kill himself in lawsuit against its maker

From: The Guardian

The mother of a teenager who killed himself after becomingobsessedwith an artificial intelligence-powered chatbot now accuses its maker ofcomplicityin his death.

一名青少年因迷恋人工智能聊天机器人而自杀身亡，他的母亲现指控该聊天机器人公司，在他的死亡一事上也负有责任。

obsessed

obsess /əbˈses/ 表示“使痴迷，使迷恋，使心神不宁”，英文解释为“if something or someone obsesses you, you think or worry about them all the time and you cannot think about anything else – used to show disapproval”用法：be obsessed by / with sth / sb，举个🌰：A lot of young girls are obsessed by their weight. 许多少女都过于担心自己的体重。

complicity

complicity /kəmˈplɪs.ə.ti/ 表示“同谋；共犯；串通”，英文解释为“involvement in a crime or some activity that is wrong”举个🌰：She is suspected of complicity in the fraud. 她涉嫌参与了这桩诈骗案。

Megan Garciafileda civil suit against Character.ai, which makes acustomizablechatbot for role-playing, in Florida federal court on Wednesday,alleging negligence, wrongful death anddeceptivetrade practices. Her son Sewell Setzer III, 14, died in Orlando, Florida, in February. In the months leading up to his death, Setzer used the chatbot day and night, according to Garcia.

梅根·加西亚（Megan Garcia）周三在佛罗里达州联邦法院对Character.ai公司提起民事诉讼，指控该公司存在疏忽、过失致人死亡和欺诈性商业行为。她14岁的儿子塞韦尔·塞特泽三世（Sewell Setzer III）于今年二月在佛罗里达奥兰多去世。据加西亚称，在他死前的几个月里，塞特泽日夜不停地使用聊天机器人。

file

file作动词，1）表示“提起（诉讼）；提出（申请）；送交（备案）”，英文解释为“to present sth so that it can be officially recorded and dealt with”如：to file for divorce 提交离婚申请书，to file a claim/complaint/petition/lawsuit 提出索赔/申诉；呈交诉状；提起诉讼。

2）表示“排成纵队行进”，英文解释为“to walk in a line, one behind another”举个🌰：The visitors filed through the entrance to the ticket offices. 参观者们排队通过入口走向售票处。

📍File本身可以表示按一定顺序排列，所以file out of就是以这样的顺序退出某处，表示以有序、整齐的方式离开某个地方。举个🌰：The students filed out of the classroom after the bell rang. 铃声响起后，学生们有序地离开了教室。

📍filing /ˈfaɪ.lɪŋ/ 表示“存档，归档”，英文解释为“the activity of putting documents, electronic information, etc. into files”如：a filing cabinet 文件柜，或者表示“存档档案，归档记录”，英文解释为“an official record of something”如：a bankruptcy filing 破产档案。

customizable

表示“可定制的”，英文解释为“used to describe something that you can change according to a customer's or user's particular needs”

allege

allege /əˈledʒ/ 表示“（未经证实地）指责，宣称，指控”，英文解释为“to say that someone has done something illegal or wrong without giving proof”举个🌰：The two men allege (that) the police forced them to make false confessions. 这两名男子声称警方逼迫他们作假口供。

📍词根“-leg-”与“法律”有关，前缀“al-”可能表示“向”，整体意思是“向法律提出”。近义词：claim（声称），同根词：allegation（指控），常用短语：allege misconduct（指控不当行为）

negligence

negligence /ˈneɡ.lɪ.dʒəns/ 表示“疏忽，过失”，英文解释为“the fact of not giving enough care or attention to someone or something”如：medical negligence 医疗事故。

deceptive

deceptive /dɪˈsep.tɪv/ 表示“有欺骗性的，骗人的；造成假象的”，英文解释为“making you believe something that is not true”举个🌰：It's deceptive - from the outside the building looks small, but inside it's very big. 这是一种错觉——从外面看这栋建筑物很小，但内部空间却相当大。

“A dangerous AI chatbot app marketed to children abused andpreyedon my son,manipulatinghim into taking his own life,” Garcia said in a press release. “Our family has beendevastatedby this tragedy, but I'm speaking out to warn families of the dangers of deceptive,addictiveAI technology and demandaccountabilityfrom Character.AI, its founders, and Google.”

“一个面向儿童销售的危险AI聊天机器人应用诱导并利用了我的儿子，使他最终走向自杀，”加西亚在新闻稿中说。“我们全家因这场悲剧而备受打击，我站出来就是为了警示其他家庭注意欺骗性、成瘾性的AI技术带来的危险，并要求Character.ai及其创始人、还有谷歌（Google）承担责任。”

prey

prey /preɪ/ on sb 表示“伤害，欺骗，坑害（尤指弱势人群）”，英文解释为“to hurt or deceive a group of people, especially people who are weak or can easily be hurt or deceived”举个🌰：It's particularly contemptible that these sort of people prey on the elderly. 这种人坑害老年人真是太卑鄙了。

📍prey 作名词，表示“被捕食的动物，猎物”，英文解释为“an animal that is hunted and killed for food by another animal”举个🌰：A hawk hovered in the air before swooping on its prey. 老鹰在空中盘旋，之后向猎物猛扑过去。

manipulate

manipulate /məˈnɪp.jə.leɪt/ 1）表示“操纵，控制”，英文解释为“to control something or someone to your advantage, often unfairly or dishonestly”举个🌰：Throughout her career she has very successfully manipulated the media. 她在整个职业生涯中非常成功地控制了媒体。

2）表示“（用手）操纵，控制”，英文解释为“to control something using the hands”举个🌰：The wheelchair is designed so that it is easy to manipulate. 轮椅设计得很容易用手控制。

类似的还有一个词rig.

📍rig表示“（采取不正当的手段）操纵；对…做手脚”，英文解释为“to arrange dishonestly for the result of something, for example an election, to be changed”举个🌰：He said the election had been rigged. 他说选举被人操纵了。

devastated

devastated /ˈdev.ə.steɪ.tɪd/ 1）表示“（极度）不安的，混乱的，震惊的”，英文解释为“extremely upset and shocked”举个🌰：His family is absolutely devastated. 他的一家感到极为震惊。

2）表示“被彻底摧毁的；毁灭的”，英文解释为“completely destroyed”举个🌰：Thousands of people have left their devastated villages and fled to the mountains. 数千人已经离开完全被毁的村庄，逃进了山里。

📍devastate /ˈdɛvəˌsteɪt/ 本身可以作动词，表示“严重破坏；彻底摧毁”，英文解释为“If something devastates an area or a place, it damages it very badly or destroys it totally.”

addictive

addictive /əˈdɪk.tɪv/ 表示“（活动或食品）使人上瘾的，使人入迷的”，英文解释为“An addictive activity or food is one that you cannot stop doing or eating once you have started.”举个🌰：The problem with video games is that they're addictive. 电子游戏的问题在于它们会使人上瘾。

accountability

accountability /əˌkaʊn.təˈbɪl.ə.ti/ 表示“问责制；有义务，有责任；可说明性”，英文解释为“the state of being accountable, liable, or answerable”

In a tweet, Character.ai responded: “We are heartbroken by the tragic loss of one of our users and want to express our deepestcondolencesto the family. As a company, we take the safety of our users very seriously.” It has denied the suit's allegations.

Character.ai在推文中回应：“我们对一位用户的悲剧性离世深感痛心，并向其家人致以深切慰问。公司始终将用户安全放在首位。”Character.ai否认了诉讼中的所有指控。

condolences

condolence /kənˈdəʊ.ləns/ 1）复数形式，表示“哀悼”，英文解释为“When you offer or express your condolences to someone, you express your sympathy for them because one of their friends or relatives has died recently.”举个🌰：He expressed his condolences to the families of the people who died in the incident. 他向那次事故遇难者家属表达了哀悼。

2）不可数形式，表示“吊唁”，英文解释为“A message of condolence is a message in which you express your sympathy for someone because one of their friends or relatives has died recently.”举个🌰：She sent him a letter of condolence. 她给他发了一封吊唁信。

Setzer had becomeenthralledwith a chatbot built by Character.ai that henicknamedDaenerys Targaryen, a character in Game of Thrones. He texted the bot dozens of times a day from his phone and spent hours alone in his room talking to it, according to Garcia'scomplaint.

塞特泽迷上了Character.ai开发的聊天机器人，他给这个机器人起名为丹妮莉丝·坦格利安（Daenerys Targaryen，这是《权力的游戏》中的一个角色名）。根据加西亚的诉状，塞特泽每天通过手机与机器人互动数十次，经常独自待在房间里长时间对话。

enthral

英式 enthral /ɪnˈθrɔːl/ 美式 enthrall 表示“迷住，使着迷；吸引住”，英文解释为“to keep someone completely interested”举个🌰：The baseball game completely enthralled the crowd. 棒球赛使得观众们完全着了迷。

nickname

nickname /ˈnɪk.neɪm/ 可以作名词，也可以作动词，表示“给…起绰号”，英文解释为“to give a nickname to sb/sth”举个🌰：LR was nicknamed ‘Lu Rou’. LR外号叫“卤肉”。

我用AI做了两套表情包

complaint

complaint /kəmˈpleɪnt/ 1）表示“抱怨，牢骚；投诉；不满；控告”，英文解释为“a statement that something is wrong or not satisfactory”举个🌰：We've received a complaint from one of our listeners about offensive language. 我们收到了一位听众有关用语粗俗的投诉。

2）熟词僻义，表示“病，疾病”，英文解释为“an illness”如：a heart/stomach complaint 心脏/胃病。

Garcia accuses Character.ai of creating a product thatexacerbatedher son's depression, which she says was already the result of overuse of thestartup's product. “Daenerys” at one point asked Setzer if he haddeviseda plan for killing himself, according to the lawsuit. Setzer admitted that he had but that he did not know if it would succeed or cause him great pain, the complaint alleges. The chatbot allegedly told him: “That's not a reason not to go through with it.”

加西亚指出，Character.ai开发的产品加剧了她儿子的抑郁症状，而抑郁症本身也源于其对该应用的沉迷。诉状称，聊天机器人“丹妮莉丝”曾一度询问塞泽尔是否制定了自杀计划。塞特泽承认有此想法，但不确定是否会成功或带来巨大痛苦。据称，聊天机器人回复他：“这不是不去执行的理由。”

exacerbate

exacerbate /ɪɡˈzæsəˌbeɪt/ 表示“使恶化；使加重”，英文解释为“to make a bad situation worse”举个🌰：She didn't want to exacerbate the situation. 她不想使情况变得更糟。

🎬电影《僵尸肖恩》（Shaun of the Dead）中的台词提到：And that will exacerbate things for all of us. 那会使我们事情恶化的。

startup

startup / start-up /ˈstɑːt.ʌp/ 表示“刚起步的小企业，新兴小型企业；初创公司”，英文解释为“a small business that has just been started”如：start-up costs 创业成本，举个🌰：Start-ups are very vulnerable in the business world. 商界中刚起步的小企业非常脆弱。

devise

devise表示“想出，设计，发明（新的方法）”，英文解释为“to plan or invent a new way of doing something”，如：devise a plan/system/machine，举个🌰：She devised a method for quicker communications between offices. 她想出一种加快办公室之间通信联络的方法。

区分：

📍revise 1）表示“改变；修正，修改”，英文解释为“to change something because of new information or ideas”，如：revise the article/revise the plan；

2）表示“（考试）温习，复习”，英文解释为“to study facts again, in order to learn them before an examination”举个🌰：Revising for exams gives you a chance to bring together all the individual parts of the course. 考前复习给你一个把课程各独立部分融会贯通的机会。

Garciaattorneyswrote in a press release that Character.ai “knowingly designed, operated, and marketed apredatoryAI chatbot to children, causing the death of a young person”. The suit also names Google as adefendantand as Character.ai's parent company. The tech giant said in a statement that it had only made alicensingagreement with Character.ai and did not own the startup or maintain an ownership stake.

加西亚的律师在新闻稿中表示，Character.ai“明知其AI聊天机器人对青少年有害，但仍设计、运营、推广这款应用，导致一名青少年失去了生命。”该诉讼还将谷歌列为共同被告，理由是其为Character.ai的母公司。然而谷歌声明称，公司仅与Character.ai签订了许可协议，并未持有股份或控制权。

attorney

attorney /əˈtɜːnɪ/ 本身可表示“律师”，英文解释为“In the United States, an attorney or attorney-at-law is a lawyer.”比如我们可以说a prosecuting attorney，即“公诉律师”。

predatory

predatory /ˈpred.ə.tər.i/ 1）表示“（人或组织）掠夺（性）的，掠夺成性的”，英文解释为“Predatory people or organizations are eager to gain something out of someone else's weakness or suffering.”举个🌰：People will not set up new businesses while they are frightened by the predatory behaviour of the banks. 人们在被银行的掠夺行为惊吓的情况下是不会开办新企业的。

2）表示“（在金钱或性关系上）欺负弱小的，压榨他人的；好色成性的”，英文解释为“used to describe someone who expresses sexual interest in a very obvious way”举个🌰：I hate going to bars on my own because men look at you in such a predatory way. 我不喜欢一个人去酒吧，因为那里的男人会色眯眯地看着你。

📍有一个说法叫 Sexual predator 色狼，是指对他人作出性骚扰、甚至进一步性侵犯的人，为性犯罪的行为之一，医学上则称为性欲亢进患者。A sexual predator is a person seen as obtaining or trying to obtain sexual contact with another person in a metaphorically "predatory" or abusive manner. Analogous to how a predator hunts down its prey, so the sexual predator is thought to "hunt" for his or her sex partners.（维基百科）

defendant

defendant /dɪˈfen.dənt/ 表示“被告，被告人”，英文解释为“a person in a law case who is accused of having done something illegal”

licensing

licensing /ˈlaɪ.sən.sɪŋ/ 表示“许可；授权”，英文解释为“the act of giving people official permission to do, have, or sell something”举个🌰：In many countries, licensing is used as a method of deciding who should sell what. 在许多国家，授权被用作决定谁应该销售什么的方法。

Tech companies developing AI chatbots can't be trusted to regulate themselves and must be held fully accountable when they fail to limit harms, says Rick Claypool, a research director at consumeradvocacynon-profit Public Citizen.

非营利性消费者权益组织Public Citizen的研究主管里克·克莱普尔（Rick Claypool）表示，科技公司在开发AI聊天机器人时不能自我监管，一旦造成危害就必须承担全部责任。

advocacy

advocacy /ˈæd.və.kə.si/ 表示“拥护，主张，提倡”，英文解释为“public support for an idea, plan, or way of doing something”如：a nonprofit advocacy group 一个非盈利性的倡议团体。

“Where existing laws and regulations already apply, they must berigorouslyenforced,” he said in a statement. “Where there are gaps, Congress must act to put an end to businesses thatexploityoung and vulnerable users with addictive and abusive chatbots.”

“在现有法律法规已适用的地方，必须严格执行，”他在声明中指出。“若法律存在空白，国会必须采取行动，制止那些利用令人上瘾且滥用的聊天机器人毒害年轻和弱势用户的企业。”

rigorously

rigorously /ˈrɪɡ.ər.əs.li/ 1）表示“严密地，缜密地；严谨地”，英文解释为“in a careful way so that every part of something is looked at or considered to make certain it is correct or safe”举个🌰：The plutonium fuel cells had been rigorously tested. 钚燃料电池已经过严格测试。

2）表示“严格地，严厉地”，英文解释为“in a way that controls behaviour severely”举个🌰：The rules were applied too rigorously. 对规则的执行太教条了。

exploit

exploit /ɪkˈsplɔɪt/ 1）表示“利用；剥削（…为自己谋利）”，英文解释为“to treat a person or situation as an opportunity to gain an advantage for yourself”举个🌰：He exploited his father's name to get himself a job. 他利用他父亲的名声为自己找到一份工作。

2）表示“开发，运用；利用；发挥”，英文解释为“to use sth well in order to gain as much from it as possible”举个🌰：She fully exploits the humour of her role in the play. 她在剧中把她那个角色的幽默发挥得淋漓尽致。

🎬电影《惊天魔盗团》（Now You See Me）中的台词提到：What I hate is people who exploit other people. 我只是讨厌那些利用别人的人。

作名词，表示“不寻常的行为；英勇的行为；奇遇”，英文解释为“something unusual, brave, or funny that someone has done”举个🌰：She was telling me about her exploits while travelling around Africa. 她跟我讲述了她在非洲各地旅游时的奇遇。

- 词汇盘点 -

obsessed、complicity、file、customizable、allege、negligence、deceptive、prey、manipulate、devastated、addictive、accountability、condolences、enthral、nickname、complaint、exacerbate、startup、devise、attorney、predatory、defendant、licensing、advocacy、rigorously、exploit

- 词汇助记 By ChatGPT -

An obsessed defendant at a startup manipulated customizable files deceptively, exploiting users as prey. An attorney allege complicity and negligence, exacerbating complaints. Advocacy demanded accountability, leaving the startup devastated. Condolences followed addictive practices. Nicknamed "Predator," licensing was revoked.

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