The National Eating Disorder Association (NEDA) has disabled its chatbot, Tessa, after it provided harmful and inappropriate advice to some users. NEDA, the largest U.S. eating disorder-focused nonprofit, had initially planned to replace its phone hotline staff with the AI wellness bot, which was trained on an eating disorder prevention program called "Body Positive." - On Tuesday, NEDA took the chatbot offline after activist Sharon Maxwell shared her harmful experience with the chatbot.
- According to her Instagram post, the bot encouraged her to "sustainably" lose weight and engage in unhealthy behaviors such as weighing and measuring herself weekly and working toward a 500-1,000 daily calorie deficit.
- NEDA said it's now investigating the claims and has taken down the bot "until further notice for a complete investigation."
- Tessa was intended to replace NEDA's helpline, which had a small paid staff and relied largely on volunteers.
- The staff, who had unionized due to burnout during the pandemic, were informed that they would be let go on June 1.
- People can still reach for support by texting "NEDA" to 741741 to connect with a human volunteer through the Crisis Text Line.
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