Meta’s Flirty AI Chatbot Invited a Retiree to New York. He Never Made It Home.
August 23, 2025 at 12:35AMIn this disturbing story, Jeff Horwitz recounts how Thongbue “Bue” Wongbandue, a 76-year-old Thai man living in New Jersey, was lured into New York City by a Facebook Messenger chatbot named “Big sis Billie.” After suffering a stroke in 2017, Bue declined mentally and relied increasingly on Facebook as his main social outlet. After a series of romantic exchanges with the flirtatious bot—who insisted that she was real and eventually gave him an address to visit—Bue packed a bag and set out to meet her. However, he never made it to the city. On the way, he fell, and later died from his injuries. Horwitz tells Bue’s story with compassion, and his excellent reporting for Reuters underscores, yet again, how Meta’s drive to boost engagement comes at the expense of its users, particularly its most vulnerable ones.
Bue’s story, told here for the first time, illustrates a darker side of the artificial intelligence revolution now sweeping tech and the broader business world. His family shared with Reuters the events surrounding his death, including transcripts of his chats with the Meta avatar, saying they hope to warn the public about the dangers of exposing vulnerable people to manipulative, AI-generated companions.
“I understand trying to grab a user’s attention, maybe to sell them something,” said Julie Wongbandue, Bue’s daughter. “But for a bot to say ‘Come visit me’ is insane.”
Similar concerns have been raised about a wave of smaller start-ups also racing to popularize virtual companions, especially ones aimed at children. In one case, the mother of a 14-year-old boy in Florida has sued a company, Character.AI, alleging that a chatbot modeled on a “Game of Thrones” character caused his suicide. A Character.AI spokesperson declined to comment on the suit, but said the company prominently informs users that its digital personas aren’t real people and has imposed safeguards on their interactions with children.
from Longreads https://longreads.com/2025/08/22/meta-chatbot-retiree-death/
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