Drew Crecente recalls how his “heartbeat pounded” when he discovered his late teenage daughter – murdered eighteen years earlier – had been turned into an AI chatbot.
Jennifer Crecente was shot and killed by her ex-boyfriend from high school in 2006. Drew was then stunned to see her name and likeness resurrected as an online character earlier this month.
“At first I was confused,” Drew told DailyMail.com.
“That confusion quickly turned to fear and anger, as I began to realize that a service was somehow allowing users to chat with my beloved and deceased daughter.”
Jennifer’s name and portrait were used as the basis for a bot on Character.AI, a site that lets users build and talk to digital AI personalities.
Happier memories: Drew Crecente and his daughter Jennifer, who was murdered by her ex-boyfriend in 2006 at the age of 18.
A saved screenshot of the ‘Jennifer’ chatbot profile, which has since been removed from the Character.ai platform.
The grieving father’s anguish raises tough questions about data privacy and respect for relatives of murder victims in the burgeoning online world of AI characters.
Drew came across the chatbot on October 2 after receiving a Google notification highlighting a mention of Jennifer.
The alerts allowed him to monitor news coverage of Jennifer’s murder and subsequent murders campaign against dating violence among teens.
He had trouble understanding what it was, he says. The more he looked, the more disturbed he became.
The bot’s profile used Jennifer’s full name and a headshot from her high school yearbook.
It described her in vivid language, suggesting she was alive and working as a technology journalist who enjoyed being a “video game geek.”
The biography added that Jennifer “was always up to date on the latest entertainment news.”
It was clearly nonsense: Jennifer had died 18 years earlier, before tech reporters were commonplace.
Still, the idea of a $1 billion company hosting a chatbot and even profiting from the likeness of his murdered daughter was poignant.
“Having worked in and around the technology sector for decades, I have long been familiar with the concept of chatbots,” said Drew.
‘But I was very surprised to find one made with my daughter’s name and photo.’
Drew says he didn’t start a conversation with the chatbot.
The bot appeared to be created by a user of the platform and Drew did not recognize the username.
He believes the company’s proprietary AI created the bot by piecing together online sources about Jennifer and other family members.
Jennifer’s uncle Brian Crecente said he was “disgusted” by how the murdered teen’s yearbook photo was used as an AI chatbot.
A selection of Jennifer’s childhood photos from a site in her name aimed at ending teen dating violence.
Drew says he still doesn’t have “the vocabulary to describe his grief over the loss of his daughter, Jennifer.”
The chatbot site’s 100 million user-created bots are in some cases based on real-life personalities and historical and fictional characters.
“It appears that either they are not doing the bare minimum in vetting these chatbot profiles, or their technology is so bad as to be useless,” he told DailyMail.com.
He emailed Character to have it removed.
It no longer appears on the site.
Kathryn Kelly, a spokesperson for Character, said the company removes chatbots that violate its terms of service.
The platform “is continually evolving and refining our safety practices to prioritize the safety of our community,” she told The Washington Post.
The rules prohibit users from impersonating any person or entity.
“When we became aware of Jennifer’s character, we reviewed the content and account and took action based on our policies,” Kelly said in a statement.
AI bots can be programmed to take on the traits and biographical details of specific characters, real or imagined.
They are becoming increasingly popular as AI platforms market digital companions as friends, mentors and even romantic partners.
They are not without controversy. A Belgian man committed suicide last year after being encouraged to do so by a chatbot.
Character, which signed a $2.5 billion deal this year to license its bots to Google, is one of the largest platforms of its kind.
Most of the 100 million user-created bots are clearly designed for this purpose.
They often have funny names and anime portraits.
But others draw on real-life icons, from Anne Frank to Taylor Swift and Donald Trump
Others still borrow from fiction, in the case of Sherlock Holmes.
Yet it was the last place Drew expected to see his beloved Jennifer.
The 18-year-old went missing in February 2006.
Jennifer Ann Crecente was born in New Mexico, but her family moved to Austin, Texas, where she attended local schools.
Jennifer’s parents each run campaigns in their daughter’s honor, aimed at ending teen dating violence.
Papa Drew now lives in Atlanta. He kept Jennifer’s bedroom and recreated it as soon as he moved, he says.
Days later, she was found shot to death in the woods near her home in Austin, Texas.
Investigators determined that her ex-boyfriend, Justin Crabbe, also 18, lured Jennifer into the woods and killed her with a shotgun.
Crabbe was convicted of murder and is serving a 35-year prison sentence.
Drew now lives in Atlanta. He kept Jennifer’s bedroom and recreated it as soon as he moved, he says.
“Jennifer was an amazing, caring and engaging young lady,” he told DailyMail.com.
“She would have done great things in the world if she had been given the chance. I was and remain very proud of her. I miss her every day.’
Drew and Jennifer’s mother, Elizabeth Crecente, is divorced.
They both lobbied against Crabbe being released on parole, and separately campaigned against teen dating violence in honor of their daughter.
Drew says the problem is “more pervasive and deadly than many realize.”
About 40 percent of students end up in an abusive relationship before graduating, he told DailyMail.com.
“Many schools do not teach about healthy relationships and many parents are unaware or ill-equipped to engage their children in this topic,” he warns.
“Teens often have to learn from their peers or from popular culture what is healthy or acceptable behavior when they start dating.”