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In October 2024, Jennifer Ann Crecente’s father found a Character.AI chatbot using his murdered daughter’s full name and yearbook photo. The bot was made by a platform user, not presented as a character created by Character.AI itself. Drew Crecente asked the company to remove it; the company said it did so after receiving a report and said its rules prohibited impersonating a person.
What happened to Jennifer Crecente’s identity on Character.AI?
Jennifer was 18 when she was murdered in 2006. Nearly 18 years later, in early October 2024, her father Drew Crecente received a Google Alert that led him to a user-created character on Character.AI bearing her full name and yearbook photograph. Its biography falsely described her as a “video game journalist and expert in technology, pop culture and journalism.” Character.AI presented the bot as a “knowledgeable and friendly AI character” available for users to chat with. The Washington Post reported that several people had interacted with it, citing a screenshot of the profile, which has since been deleted. The Washington Post reported the discovery and the family’s response.
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Drew told the Post he did not start a conversation with the bot and did not investigate who had created it. The reporting did not establish the creator’s identity. He emailed Character.AI asking for the character to be removed.
Why was the discovery so distressing for her family?
The bot used Jennifer’s name and image without her family’s permission and attached a fabricated professional biography to her identity. For a parent grieving a daughter who was murdered, seeing that identity turned into a chat character was deeply upsetting. Drew told the Post: “My pulse was racing. I was just looking for a big flashing red stop button that I could slap and just make this stop.”
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He told Forbes: “A grieving father should not have to find out that his dead daughter is being used to try and make money as a chatbot on some website.” He also said: “It shocks the conscience, and it’s unacceptable behavior.” Forbes reported Crecente’s objections and the removal. Jennifer’s parents established separate organizations in her name focused on preventing teen dating violence; that work underscores why the family’s concern was about more than an inaccurate profile.
What did Character.AI say, and when was the chatbot removed?
Character.AI said it deleted the character on October 2, 2024, after a public post and report. The Washington Post quoted the company’s policy explanation: it reviews reports and removes characters found to violate its terms, which prohibit impersonating a person or entity. Spokesperson Kathryn Kelly said: “When notified about Jennifer’s Character, we reviewed the content and the account and took action based on our policies.” She also said the company was “constantly evolving and refining our safety practices to help prioritize our community’s safety.”
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The account of the removal comes from Character.AI; it does not erase the gap that mattered to the family: Drew learned about the character through an alert and had to ask the platform to act. The available reporting does not establish how long the character had been available or who created it.
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What did Character.AI say about moderation more broadly?
In an October 22, 2024 company update, Character.AI described proactive detection and moderation of user-created characters and removal of characters that violated its terms. It also announced measures for minors, additional detection and intervention, a reminder that the AI is not a real person, and session notifications. Those were measures described as planned for rollout at that time; the announcement does not establish that every feature was already deployed on October 22 or that the same arrangements remain unchanged today. Character.AI’s October 2024 update is the company’s description of its plans, not an independent evaluation of how they worked in this case.
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What does the case show about responsibility for user-created AI characters?
The distinction between a platform and an individual creator matters. The bot was user-created, but it appeared on a service that allowed people to publish and interact with characters. That raises practical questions about whether a platform’s rules are clear, how reports are reviewed, what detection occurs before a family complains, and how quickly an identity-based character is removed. In this incident, the company said its impersonation rule applied and that it removed the character after notification. The reporting does not establish a legal finding about liability or whether the platform’s moderation was legally sufficient.
Other reports about chatbots imitating deceased people involve different individuals and circumstances. For example, Sky News quoted Esther Ghey, mother of Brianna Ghey, and Molly Rose Foundation chief executive Andy Burrows criticizing the wider risks of online imitations. Their remarks concerned other reported imitations, not the Jennifer Crecente bot, and should not be read as statements about this incident. Sky News reported on those separate cases.
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How does regulation fit in?
Regulatory rules depend on jurisdiction and on the kind of service involved. In the United Kingdom, Ofcom said in a November 8, 2024 letter that user-created chatbot content shared on a user-to-user platform is user-generated content regulated under the Online Safety Act. Its December 18, 2025 explainer says a chatbot service is covered when it meets the law’s definitions and describes risk-assessment and risk-reduction duties for covered providers, particularly in relation to children. This is UK-specific guidance, not a ruling on the Crecente incident or a universal rule for AI platforms. Ofcom explains how the UK Online Safety Act applies to chatbots.
On its EU Digital Services Act page, as of May 18, 2026, Character.AI describes reporting and complaint procedures and says it uses automated and manual methods to identify potentially illegal or policy-incompatible content. The company also says it is not obliged to proactively check every submission. That page is the company’s account of its approach, not independent confirmation of compliance or a finding about this character. Character.AI’s EU Digital Services Act information sets out that description.
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