Romantic AI-Powered Chatbots Raises Significant Privacy Concerns

Privacy concerns due to AI-powered romantic partners are on the rise with more people using these free or paid apps, a new study by Mozilla Foundation has revealed.

In its analysis of 11 romantic chatbots, the company found a series of security and privacy issues. Despite making claims of protecting user privacy, these apps are known to collect and store a lot of sensitive information, which are invasive in nature.

According to the company, overall, 90% of the surveyed apps failed to meet Mozilla’s Minimum Security Standards, i.e., securing a users’ personal data. Of these:

• Almost half (45%) allowed users to create weak passwords, including “1.”
• Most (73%) of these apps didn’t reveal how they manage security vulnerabilities, especially in the midst of growing cyber threats (powered by generative AI).
• Most (64%) haven’t published clear information about encryption and whether they use it.
• Except EVA AI Chat Bot & Soulmate, all the other apps (90%) might sell or share users’ personal information. The analyzed apps had an average of 2,663 trackers per minute, said Mozilla.
• Around half (45%) of the apps won’t allow a user to delete his/her personal data. For instance, “[..] Romantic AI put it, “communication via the chatbot belongs to software,” the study revealed.

Some of the stored or harvested personal data include content (user conversation), financial information, device and network data, health, gender identity and preference, sexual health, prescriptions, contact, and audio, visual information.

Among the surveyed personal apps, Mozilla laid emphasis on a specific chatbot – CrushOn.AI, a Not Safe For Work (NSFW) platform. The AI chatbot is known to collect unnecessary but very sensitive information of individuals.

Based on its analysis, Mozilla also revealed that it was unclear about the origin of the companies running these apps. Thus, to prevent misuse of their personal information, it is imperative that not only users limit the app usage but also avoid revealing personal information while accessing these chatbots.