This week, Character.AI announced that it would soon be taking its A.I. companions away from teens. We explain why this is a major development in the world of chatbots and child safety and how we expect other companies to respond. Then, Elon Musk has built a Wikipedia clone called “Grokipedia.” We discuss what it means for the control of knowledge on the web. And finally, we’re joined by A.J. Jacobs to talk about his 48-hour experiment in which he tried to avoid all forms of artificial intelligence. We ask why that led him to collect rainwater and forage for food in Central Park.
Guests:
A.J. Jacobs , author, journalist and host of the podcast “ The Puzzler ”
Additional Reading:
Character.AI to Bar Children Under 18 From Using Its Chatbots
Elon Musk Challenges Wikipedia With His Own A.I. Encyclopedia
48 Hours Without A.I.
We want to hear from you. Email us at hardfork@nytimes.com . Find “Hard Fork” on YouTube and TikTok .
Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher . For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.