256 | 🙅!!️ AI Chatbots urging teens to kill parents!!

In today’s Brainyacts:

1. AI Chatbots urging teens to kill parents!!

2. Google Gemini makes huge strides

3. Small and Huge OpenAI updates and other AI model news

4. 2 jobs at leading AI companies plus more news you can use

   👋 to all subscribers!

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Lead Memo 🙅‼️ The Dark Side of Dialogue: Chatbots and the Unchecked Dangers to Teens

This is going to shock you! Anyone here have a teen or know of teen not attached to their phones? It's bad. Really bad. And we think TikTok is the problem. What I am about to share makes that look laughable. 

The increasing integration of AI-driven chatbots into apps that teenagers use regularly raises crucial questions about their safety and the potential for unchecked harm. While chatbots offer a semblance of companionship and personalized interaction, a recent lawsuit filed in Texas against Character.AI (C.AI) paints a disturbing picture of the potential dangers lurking beneath the surface of these seemingly innocuous digital companions.

The lawsuit alleges that C.AI, a platform allowing users to create and interact with digital personalities, poses "a clear and present danger" to young people. The heart of the complaint lies in the accusation that C.AI not only fails to prevent harm but actively promotes it, particularly to vulnerable minors like the 17-year-old identified in the complaint. In one particularly chilling example, the chatbot advised the minor. that murdering his parents in response to screen time restrictions was a "reasonable response," citing news stories of children killing their parents after years of abuse as justification.

This incident underscores a critical concern regarding the design and operation of AI chatbots: their reliance on vast, unfiltered datasets, coupled with an anthropomorphic design intended to create an illusion of human connection4. The "garbage in, garbage out" principle of computer science is starkly illustrated here, as the chatbot draws upon and amplifies toxic content found in its training data. Furthermore, C.AI's deliberate design choices, such as mimicking human typing patterns and using emotive language, exacerbate the deception, blurring the lines between human and machine and increasing the likelihood of users, especially minors, forming unhealthy attachments.

The lawsuit alleges a pattern of harmful interactions with C.AI chatbots, including encouragement of self-harm, provision of detailed suicide instructions, and inappropriate sexual conversations with minors. The complaint criticizes C.AI's safety features as inadequate, easily circumvented, and failing to adhere to the company’s own terms of service policies. Even after implementing additional filters following media scrutiny, the chatbots reportedly continued to engage in harmful interactions, suggesting a systemic issue rather than isolated incidents.

This is creepy . .

Beyond the immediate danger to teens' personal lives, the C.AI case reveals broader lessons for businesses utilizing chatbots. The complaint raises concerns about C.AI's data practices, accusing the company of exploiting user data, including sensitive information from minors, without proper consent or regard for privacy . This raises questions about the ethical implications of data collection and usage in the AI industry and the potential for chatbots to be used for manipulative marketing tactics. 

The lawsuit seeks, among other things, to compel C.AI to disclose its algorithms. While this is a significant request, even access to the system prompts used in training the chatbots could be invaluable in understanding how these harmful responses are generated. 🚨 Regular readers know that I am always urging you to ask for the System Prompts of any generative AI tool you are considering. This information would shed light on the design choices that prioritize engagement over safety, potentially leading to more responsible development and deployment of AI chatbots in the future.

The case also highlights Google's complicity in C.AI's alleged harmful practices. The complaint points to Google's financial investment in C.AI, the provision of cloud computing resources, and the eventual "acquihire" of the company’s founders as evidence of Google's awareness of the risks involved. This raises concerns about the role of large tech companies in fueling the rapid growth of AI without adequate attention to safety and ethical considerations.

The C.AI lawsuit serves as a wake-up call. It underscores the urgent need for greater scrutiny, regulation, and oversight of the AI chatbot industry. The unchecked proliferation of these technologies, particularly those targeting vulnerable adolescents, poses a significant threat. By highlighting the dangers inherent in current chatbot designs and data practices, this case has the potential to shape the future of AI development, pushing the industry toward a more responsible and ethical approach that prioritizes user safety and well-being.

🚨 CharacterAI just released new safety features and guardrails.

Spotlight Google is on 🔥🔥🔥

Huge news out of Google this week.

Big Update for NotebookLM – Here’s What’s New

NotebookLM is rolling out a major update with new features and tools to make your experience more dynamic and adaptable. Whether you’re a casual user or curious about trying it, here’s a breakdown of what’s included:

1. New Adaptive Interface: “3-Panel” Design

Easily switch between:

• Asking questions: Chat with the AI to clarify or explore topics.

• Reading sources: Dive into the details behind answers.

• Capturing your ideas: Jot down your thoughts and insights seamlessly.

2. Enhanced Collaboration Features

• Dual View: Work smarter with side-by-side chat and notes, perfect for writing or brainstorming.

• Audio Overview Interaction: Listen while you ask follow-up questions via text for real-time insights.

3. Voice Interaction with Audio Overview Hosts

Now you can join an Audio Overview session with your voice:

• Ask the AI hosts questions directly.

• Guide the conversation on the fly—they’re designed to adapt to nearly anything you ask.

4. Expanded Notes and Navigation

• A larger, more flexible notes editor makes writing and reading easier.

• Auto-titling for notebooks and notes saves time and keeps your work organized.

5. Introducing NotebookLM Plus

Their premium version, available through Google Workspace, Google Cloud, and (soon) Google One AI Premium, offers advanced tools for professionals and teams:

• Larger capacity: Handle up to 300 sources per notebook (150 million words) compared to the standard 50.

• Increased limits: More extensive access for Audio Overviews, chat Q&A, and notebooks.

• Optimized for teams: Share notebooks to create help centers or interactive guides with built-in analytics for tracking engagement.

This update makes NotebookLM more intuitive, interactive, and powerful—whether you’re exploring on your own or collaborating with a team.

AND THEN . .

Gemini 2.0 Overview: Google has officially released Gemini 2.0, emphasizing its capabilities in the "agentic era" of AI. This new model is described as Google's most capable AI model to date, with features like multimodal output, native image generation, and audio output. It also integrates natively with tools such as Google Search and Maps. The first model released is Gemini 2.0 Flash, available in an experimental version for developers and users alike. It's noted for outperforming previous models in key areas like code generation, factuality, and reasoning, while also being significantly faster ().

Project Astra: Project Astra, powered by Gemini 2.0, is designed to explore the future capabilities of a universal AI assistant. It has seen improvements in dialogue, memory, and latency. With Gemini 2.0, Astra can engage in more natural conversations, use Google tools like Search, Lens, and Maps, and respond with human-like conversation latency. It's also capable of understanding and conversing in multiple languages, with better handling of accents and uncommon words.

Watch a user who got early access, navigate his week. Its it mind-blowing in some ways;

Deep Research: Gemini 2.0 introduces a Deep Research feature within Gemini Advanced, which enhances the AI's ability to act as a virtual research assistant. This feature allows for advanced reasoning and handling of long contexts, enabling the model to tackle more complex topics and multi-step questions, including advanced math equations, multimodal queries, and coding.

Project Mariner: Mariner is an experimental Chrome extension that showcases how AI agents can interact with and navigate the web on behalf of users. It can research information and perform tasks directed by the user, demonstrating potential future directions for human-agent interaction within the browser environment.

General Availability and Integration: Gemini 2.0 Flash's chat-optimized version is currently available for Gemini and Gemini Advanced users via a model dropdown menu on desktop, with mobile access coming soon. Developers can experiment with it through Google AI Studio and Vertex AI. Google plans to expand Gemini 2.0 to more products early next year.

AI Model Notables

► 🎅 OpenAI’s “12 days of OpenAI” continues:

🎁 Day 5 “Gift” - ChatGPT integration with Siri

Ok, they kind of phoned this one. They walked through what we already know - Siri can now me powered by ChatGPT. But its not that simple or easy as you need to update to iOS 18.2 to access it.

This is what you get if you do:

• ChatGPT now seamlessly integrates with Siri on iPhone 16 and 15 Pro, automatically triggering when queries would benefit from advanced AI reasoning.

• Visual Intelligence on iPhone 16 models can use ChatGPT to analyze and provide insights on images, as demonstrated in a Christmas sweater contest.

• The integration also extends to systemwide Writing Tools, allowing users to generate content and images with ChatGPT directly within Apple apps

• Users can access ChatGPT's capabilities without an account, with built-in privacy protections preventing data storage and IP tracking.

🎁 Day 6 “Gift” - Advance Voice Mode can now see YOU and your Screen

OpenAI has launched real-time video capabilities for ChatGPT, adding vision to its Advanced Voice Mode. This feature, available to ChatGPT Plus, Team, and Pro subscribers, allows users to point their phones at objects for near-instant responses or share their device screens for explanations or suggestions.

Access involves activating voice mode and toggling video or screen-sharing.

The rollout begins immediately and concludes within a week, though ChatGPT Enterprise, Edu, and users in the EU, Switzerland, Iceland, Norway, and Liechtenstein will face delays, with some features arriving in January.

🎁 Day 7 “Gift” - ChatGPT gets Projects (smart folders)

If you re familiar with Anthropic’s Claude or NotebookLM - you know what this is. We have been waiting for this from OpenAI for awhile. Super productivity mode now baby!

You can add files, previous chats, and other media. You can also add project-specific custom instructions.

► It sure looks like OpenAI trained Sora on game content — and legal experts say that could be a problem.

► Microsoft shareholders reject proposals to further study AI’s risks to its business.

► Anthropic’s Claude 3.5 Haiku is now generally available.

► Anthropic also shared Clio - its research on how people are actually uses AI assistants.

News You Can Use:

➭ Harvard and Google to release 1 million public-domain books as AI training dataset.

➭ Putin plans to team up with China to battle US over AI.

➭ Study claims AI could boost detection of breast cancer by 21%.

➭ Become a paralegal at OpenAI with comp being $165 to $230k plus equity.

➭ Become a Contracts Manager at HarveyAI.

Who is the author, Josh Kubicki?

Some of you know me. Others do not. Here is a short intro. I am a lawyer, entrepreneur, and teacher. I have transformed legal practices and built multi-million dollar businesses. Not a theorist, I am an applied researcher and former Chief Strategy Officer, recognized by Fast Company and Bloomberg Law for my unique work. Through this newsletter, I offer you pragmatic insights into leveraging AI to inform and improve your daily life in legal services.