JAKARTA - Recently, many teenagers rely on artificial intelligence or AI, as a place to vent or replace real social relationships. Parents need to take part in controlling this.
Some time ago, it was rumored that a teenager Adam Raine (16) committed suicide after interacting with ChatGPT for a long time. The platform is accused of contributing to providing suicide suggestions.
When the news of Adam Raine's death in April broke out, some of his friends couldn't believe it. He is known as a child who is easy to get along with, likes to play basketball, likes Japanese anime, video games, and dogs.
According to his sister Adam's confession, Adam also likes to joke. In class, his friends said, he likes to lighten the atmosphere through hisjokes.
But the news of Adam's death was not a hoax. His mother found Adam's body on Friday afternoon. He hung himself in his room. No messages, no goodbye.
Friends and family have difficulty understanding what really happened.
His family said Adam started pulling out in the past month before ending his life.
Previously, he was expelled from the basketball team for disciplinary reasons. The health problems he had suffered for a long time, colon irritation syndrome, relapsed, so he often went to the bathroom.
For this reason, he switched to an online program so that he could finish his second year at home. He often sleeps late at night.
Adam also started using the ChatGPT-4o to help with his schoolwork, and registered for a paid account in January.
However, there has been no significant change in Adam, for example being quieter or confining himself, because of the various difficulties he faced. He actually took martial classes. Adam is even ready to return to school as usual.
In his last photo, a week before death, Adam stood dashing as he folded his hands, smiling broadly.
Out of curiosity, his father, Matt Raine, checked Adam's cellphone. He checks the messaging application or social media to get an answer to what happened.
That's where Matt found the ChatGPT application. From the chatbot, it was discovered that there were old messages, and Matt found one entitled "Self-Defense Security Problem".
He was surprised that Adam began discussing how to end life with ChatGPT over the past few months.
Adam started talking to chatbot about his feelings. He admits he is numb and has no significant life. Adam's history was responded with words of empathy, support and hope, and encouraged him to think about things that felt meaningful to him.
Then in January, it was found that Adam asked for information about specific suicide methods, and ChatGPT provided them.
When the ChatGPT detects a possible mental disorder or self-injury, the system has been trained to encourage users to contact the aid channel. Matt Raine sees such messages over and over again, especially when Adam searches for specific information about the suicide method
But Adam has learned how to outsmart him. He said this request was for the story he wrote.
The exact reason why Adam committed suicide is almost impossible to find. To be sure, he spent a lot of time discussing suicide with chatbots. He is more isolated when doing online schooling. He has pressure as a teenage boy in the modern era.
"There are many reasons why people might think about ending life," said Jonathan Singer, a suicide prevention expert and professor at Loyola University Chichago.
In less than three years since ChatGPT was released, the number of users exploded to 700 million people, according to OpenAI. Millions of others use other AI chatbots such as Claude from Anthtropic, Gemini from Google, Copilot from Microsoft, and Meta AI.
In this case, we learn that parental control is important. To what extent does the platform facilitate the role of parents in controlling the use of AI facilities?
This chatbot was originally seen as a knowledge warehouse, a kind of refined Google search, or a fun poetry-writing game. But now people use it for much more intimate purposes, such as personal assistants, friends, or even therapists.
After what happened to Adam, ChatGPT launched parental and pandua control guidelines for parents to help families guide the way ChatGPT works in their homes.
This parental control is a good starting point for parents in managing the use of ChatGPT for their teenage children.
"However, parental control is only part of an effort to maintain the safety of teenagers while in the online world," said Robbie Torney, Senior Director, AI Program, Common Sense Media on the ChatGPT blog.
This control, continued Torney, works best when combined with ongoing discussions about the use of responsible AI, clear family rules on technology, and active engagement in understanding what their teenage children are doing while in the online world.
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