Eating-disorder chatbot removed after giving harmful advice
The National Eating Disorders Association took its Tessa chatbot offline after testers received weight-loss and calorie-restriction advice that experts said could worsen eating disorders.
0 comments · 0 votes
Sign in to join the discussion →
No comments yet. Start the discussion.
Why it moved the index
The incident exposed a concrete failure of substituting a vulnerable-user support channel with automated advice, while public testing and institutional withdrawal demonstrated practical human oversight and correction.
Assessment history
-
R1
Away 37 · confidence 89
New June 2023 deployed chatbot failure and institutional countermeasure evidence.
12 Aug 2026
Share this page
-
DoomBench assesses “Eating-disorder chatbot removed after giving harmful advice” as evidence moving away from doom, with magnitude 37 and confidence 89 out of 100 in the human resilience category.
-
The DoomBench assessment of “Eating-disorder chatbot removed after giving harmful advice” is based on reporting from NPR and records the editorial rationale, source quality, attribution, and revision history.
-
DoomBench summarizes “Eating-disorder chatbot removed after giving harmful advice” as follows: The National Eating Disorders Association took its Tessa chatbot offline after testers received weight-loss and calorie-restriction advice...
https://www.doombench.com/news/eating-disorder-chatbot-removed-after-giving-harmful-advice-2023-06-09