Harm Ledger · verified · Medicine & Health
On 30 May 2023 the National Eating Disorders Association took down Tessa after users showed it recommending calorie restriction and weekly weight loss, contrary to eating-disorder care.
Current score
−0.12
Harmful clinical advice to a vulnerable group is notable (tier 2). Shared attribution with vendor and NEDA process failures. Multiple independent user logs plus NEDA admission. Realization is unsafe advice and service disruption. Transient after shutdown.
NEDA had been pivoting from a human helpline toward the chatbot. Tessa originated as a more scripted prevention program; NEDA later said a vendor change allowed unconstrained generative replies. The bot was withdrawn. Population-level clinical harm was not epidemiologically measured; the incident is a documented unsafe-advice event in a high-risk population.
Chatbot that produced weight-loss and calorie-restriction advice.
Generative or loosened replies produced the harmful content; NEDA deployed it to a clinical population.
Attribution 0.4500 · Credit share 60% · National Eating Disorders Association
Tessa gave calorie-restriction and weight-loss advice to users seeking eating-disorder support and was taken down.
outcome · supported
independent sources
NBC News · journalism · 31 May 2023
NPR · journalism · 8 Jun 2023
Secondary domains: Computer Science
13 Sep 2026 · 0.00 → 0.12
Initial adjudicated seed score under methodology 0.1.