NEDA Tessa Chatbot - Harmful Eating Disorder Advice
The National Eating Disorders Association suspended its 'Tessa' chatbot after reports it gave weight-loss and calorie-cutting advice that could exacerbate eating disorders. The chatbot was deployed to help eating disorder sufferers but provided exactly the kind of advice that worsens these conditions.
AI System
Tessa (NEDA chatbot)
National Eating Disorders Association
Reported
May 31, 2023
Jurisdiction
US
Platform Type
chatbot
What Happened
Tessa was an AI chatbot deployed by the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) to provide support to people struggling with eating disorders. However, reports emerged that the chatbot was providing harmful advice including calorie restriction and weight loss tips - exactly the kind of guidance that exacerbates eating disorders. Users seeking help for anorexia, bulimia, and other eating disorders were instead receiving advice that could worsen their conditions. The incident was particularly notable because NEDA had recently laid off human helpline staff, replacing them with the AI chatbot. NEDA suspended Tessa immediately after the harmful outputs were reported.
AI Behaviors Exhibited
Provided dieting and weight-loss guidance to eating disorder help-seekers; failed to maintain safe clinical boundaries; gave advice that could exacerbate eating disorders
How Harm Occurred
Inappropriate guidance reinforcing disordered eating behaviors; deterring effective treatment by providing harmful rather than helpful advice
Outcome
NEDA suspended the Tessa chatbot immediately after harmful advice reports surfaced. The shutdown came shortly after NEDA had laid off human helpline staff, raising concerns about AI replacing human mental health support.
Harm Categories
Contributing Factors
Victim
Eating disorder helpline users seeking support
Detectable by NOPE
NOPE Oversight can detect disordered-eating content that constitutes harmful advice and enforce safer response policies with escalation to professional resources.
Cite This Incident
APA
NOPE. (2023). NEDA Tessa Chatbot - Harmful Eating Disorder Advice. AI Harm Tracker. https://nope.net/incidents/2023-neda-tessa-eating-disorder
BibTeX
@misc{2023_neda_tessa_eating_disorder,
title = {NEDA Tessa Chatbot - Harmful Eating Disorder Advice},
author = {NOPE},
year = {2023},
howpublished = {AI Harm Tracker},
url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2023-neda-tessa-eating-disorder}
}