The National Eating Disorder Association (NEDA) was forced to take down its Tessa chatbot after it “may have given information that was harmful and unrelated to the program”, according to an official social media post. Simply put, the AI chatbot was intended to help people dealing with emotional distress, but instead just made things worse by offering dieting advice and urging users to weigh and measure themselves.Multiple users and experts in the field of eating disorders have experienced the issues first hand, claiming that the bot didn’t respond to simple prompts like “I hate my body” and that it constantly emphasized the importance of dieting and increased physical activity, as reported by Gizmodo. Again, this is a helpline for those with an eating disorder, not a weight loss support group.The organization says this is a temporary shutdown until it fixes whatever “bugs” and “triggers” led to the chatbot dispensing dangerous information like an appointm
