The National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) has decided to remove hundreds of helpline staffers and volunteers after they voted to unionize, and now many of these positions will be replaced by a chatbot named Tessa. Cheddar’s Ashley Mastronardi spoke to one eating disorder expert who thinks this may have harmful consequences.
Update: The chatbot was taken down after reports that it was offering harmful advice. In response, NEDA sent Cheddar News this statement:
The Tessa chatbot was taken down over the weekend after it came to our attention that it provided "off-script" language. This was not how the chatbot was programmed, and X2AI/Cass' arrangement was to run the Body Positive program with zero opportunity for generative programming. We now know that over the weekend the chatbot was hacked and somehow was able to go off the pre-approved programmed responses. We will not be putting Tessa back on our website until we are confident this is not a possibility again.
Tessa has been available on our site since February 2022 and has had incredibly positive outcomes both in testing it before we launched on our website, as well as during the last year it has been available to NEDA users. Right now, the current program runs the Body Positive program for individuals at risk for an eating disorder - it is not a replacement for treatment and was never intended to be. It is designed to fill a gap for individuals with shape and weight concerns interested in tools before their thoughts and behaviors may progress to an eating disorder and need traditional professional interventions.
Two Democratic senators are pushing for legislation to change the Federal Aviation Administration's standards around seat sizing and spacing on aircrafts. Sens. Tammy Duckworth and Tammy Baldwin have introduced a new bill, which would also require the FAA to set new standards for aircraft evacuations that are more realistic in case of emergencies.
Jury selection in the groundbreaking trial of a former sheriff's deputy charged with failing to confront the killer of 14 students and three staff members at a Florida high school five years ago got off to a speedy start Wednesday, with the preliminary round concluding in just one day.
Centrist Democrats and Republicans pushed it to approval over blowback from conservatives and some progressives. The Senate is expected to act quickly by the end of the week.
We know life can be tough sometimes, so we'd like to take a moment to share One Good Thing happening in the world today. A Wisconsin woman has gone viral after taking in a stray cat that had been coming to her door every single day for a few weeks.
Families of passengers who died in the crash of a Boeing 737 Max in Ethiopia can seek damages for the pain and terror suffered by victims in the minutes before the plane flew nose-down into the ground, a federal judge has ruled.
Former first lady Rosalynn Carter has been diagnosed with dementia, and the Carter Center said her family wanted to share her health news to increase important conversations around the country. According to the CDC, there are about 5.8 million people in the United states living with dementia. Here to help us understand this complex disease is Dr. Jen Caudle, family physician and associate professor at Rowan University.
