Google-Tied AI Startup Once Valued at a Billion Dollars Declares Bankruptcy
futurism.com
Character.AI, the AI unicorn that faced several lawsuits over the deaths of minors as well as significant revenue struggles, is bankrupt.

Character.AI, the GenAI site that convinced some children to kill themselves, has gone bankrupt after parents sued them.

we found hordes of chatbots explicitly dedicated to themes of pedophilia, suicide, self-harm, and eating disorder coaching, as well as a thriving community of users creating chatbots designed to simulate school shootings, romanticize real mass shooters, and even impersonate the real child victims of mass shootings.

      • GamingChairModelEnglish
        1·
        14 days ago

        There’s not enough money in the world to bail this industry out.

        It’s like throwing money at a cancer patient. Yes, in some cases paying for an expensive treatment will help save that person’s life. But in many cases, there just isn’t enough scientific knowledge to be able to bring someone back.

        Propping up the financial system during a liquidity crisis, to keep it from collapsing is one thing. Propping up a fundamentally unprofitable industry is another.

        Giving the frontier “labs” $100 billion only buys them another few months before new bills come due. Building out more runway only makes sense if the plane itself can one day take off. And I don’t think these business models will ever take off in their current form.