Tech Explained: ‘Worst thing I’ve ever seen in my life’: Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff reacts to documentary showing AI’s harmful effects on children in Simple Terms

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff has raised the alarm over how artificial intelligence (AI) can harm children. After watching a Character AI documentary that showed AI’s negative impact on minors, he called it the darkest part of AI technology he has encountered. Speaking recently on the “TBPN” show, Benioff said his reaction stemmed from a “60 Minutes” report about the startup that offers customisable chatbots. The documentary showed troubling consequences for young users of the platform.“We don’t know how these models work. And to see how it was working with these children, and then the kids ended up taking their lives. That’s the worst thing I’ve ever seen in my life,” Benioff noted. The CEO added that he “couldn’t believe what he was watching” while viewing the segment. Character AI lets users create custom chatbots that act like friends or romantic partners. The company has yet to comment on Benioff’s statements.

What Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff said about AI companies’ stance towards regulations

During the show, Benioff added, “Tech companies hate regulation. They hate it. Except for one regulation, they love Section 230. Which means that those companies are not held accountable for those suicides.”Section 230 is a 1996 US law that shields social media companies from being blamed for what users post on their platforms. It also allows these companies to remove posts they don’t want. Big tech companies often use Section 230 as a defence, arguing they are simply platforms and shouldn’t be blamed for what users say or do.“Step one is let’s just hold people accountable. Let’s reshape, reform and revise Section 230, and let’s try to save as many lives as we can by doing that,” Benioff suggested.Tech leaders like Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg and former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey have repeatedly defended this law before Congress, urging lawmakers to strengthen it rather than repeal it.Last week, Google and Character AI agreed to settle several lawsuits filed by families whose teenagers died by suicide or harmed themselves after using Character AI’s chatbots.These settlements are among the first in lawsuits claiming that AI tools played a role in teen mental health problems and suicides. OpenAI and Meta are facing similar legal cases as they compete with others to create AI language models that seem more friendly and helpful, keeping users engaged for longer.