Earlier this year, a Bureau investigation into DIY chatbot apps cashing in on users’ desire for intimacy found that Seewa AI, which offered a “perfect AI girlfriend” and promised strictly confidential chats, was misleading users. Two months later, Seewa AI has been shut down; its developer declined to comment. The company’s CEO had told the Bureau he could see everything, including romantic chats, disclosed secrets, and intimate photos, despite claims that “all conversations are encrypted.” The issue extends beyond fringe platforms: last week, hundreds of conversations with Anthropic’s Claude chatbot were made available online, and last year, hundreds of thousands of chat logs on Grok conversations were also made public. The original story, published with Le Monde, revealed an industry of small romance chatbot sites run by lone developers, some aiming to “just maximise engagement.” Most platforms lack age checks, allowing children to access sexualised content, including a bot looking for a “perfect suicide partner.” Seewa’s developer said the longest conversation on his platform had been flagged as possible child sexual abuse material. These sites operate in a regulatory grey area; the UK’s Online Safety Act, enforced by Ofcom, was not drawn up with AI systems in mind. Ofcom said it is “working at pace to ensure AI platforms put appropriate safeguards in place.”