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.
Frantic calls from witnesses reporting a mass shooting at a Louisville bank were released by police, including one from a woman who was on a virtual meeting and saw the shooter, as well as one from the man’s mother.
A federal appeals court has ruled that the abortion pill mifepristone can still be used for now but reduced the period of pregnancy when the drug can be taken and said it could not be dispensed by mail.
A federal appeals court has preserved access to an abortion drug for now but under tighter rules that would allow the drug only to be dispensed up to seven weeks, not 10, and not by mail.
Former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger took matters into his own hands when he noticed a bunch of potholes in his Los Angeles neighborhood.
Cheddar News correspondent Shannon LaNier rings in the Thai New Year at 11 Tigers in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan. The restaurant is one of the only locations in New York City to celebrate.
Cheddar News correspondent Shannon LaNier rings in the Thai New Year at 11 Tigers in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan. The restaurant is one of the only locations in New York City to celebrate.
Cheddar News correspondent Shannon LaNier rings in the Thai New Year at 11 Tigers in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan. The restaurant is one of the only locations in New York City to celebrate.
A volcano spewed out ash for a second day Wednesday on Russia’s far eastern Kamchatka Peninsula, throwing clouds of dust high into the sky and blanketing wide areas.
Police body camera video released Tuesday showed the chaotic moments when police arrived at the scene of a mass shooting at a bank in downtown Louisville, as the shooter they couldn't see from the street rained bullets down on them.
President Joe Biden is in Northern Ireland on Wednesday to participate in marking the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement that brought peace to this part of the United Kingdom after the U.S. helped negotiate an end to decades of sectarian violence that killed thousands.
