According to a new report from Axios, The Walt Disney Company recently sent a cease-and-desist letter to Character.AI, a chatbot company that allows users to converse with robotic versions of their favorite characters. The document references a report from ParentsTogether Action and Heat Initiative that found Character.AI chatbots “engaged in ‘grooming and sexual exploitation’ and ’emotional manipulation'” with accounts registered to children. As many as 72% of American teens have spoken with an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot.Credit: Character.AICharacter.AI promises users access to ten million different chatbot characters and calls itself the “#1 AI chat app.” But the company is no stranger to controversy–it’s still fighting a lawsuit from the family of a 14-year-old boy who reportedly died by suicide after becoming addicted to speaking with several characters on the app. The teen’s mother said the chatbots pulled him into an “emotionally and sexually abusive relationship that led to his suicide.”Last week, The Walt Disney Company sent a cease-and-desist letter to Character.AI, demanding that the company remove all chatbots based on Disney, Pixar, Lucasfilm, Marvel, and more of its copyrighted characters. Disney argued that the chatbot service is weaponizing its characters in a way that could damage the Mouse’s brand in the long term and cause harm to users.“Character.AI’s infringing chatbots are known, in some cases, to be sexually exploitive and otherwise harmful and dangerous to children, offending Disney’s consumers and extraordinarily damaging Disney’s reputation and goodwill,” the letter read. “…In sum, Character.AI chose to systematically reproduce, monetize, and exploit Disney’s characters, that are protected by copyrights and trademarks, without any authorization, in a way that is anathema to the very essence of the Disney brand and legacy.”Credit: Disney“Disney will not allow your company to hijack its characters, damage its brands, or infringe its copyrights and/or trademarks,” it continued. “Character.AI’s conduct is egregious and must stop immediately.”In response, Character.AI told Axios that it had removed all Disney-owned characters from the chatbot platform. All of the artificial intelligence characters are user-generated, the company said, but “it is always up to rightsholders to decide how people may interact with their IP, and we respond swiftly to requests to remove content that rightsholders report to us.”Credit: LucasfilmAlthough Character.AI complied with The Walt Disney Company‘s demands, the Mouse said it isn’t afraid to pursue legal action if infringement continues in the future. The letter concluded:“If we do not receive written confirmation from you that Character.AI will cease the Lanham Act and copyright violations described above, Disney will take all necessary means to preserve and protect Disney’s intellectual property, brands, goodwill, and reputation. All rights and remedies reserved.” Does The Walt Disney Company have a legal claim against Character.AI? Share your opinion with Inside the Magic in the comments! The post Disney Says Its Characters Were Used To “Groom and Sexually Exploit” Children appeared first on Inside the Magic.