A US charity for patients with eating disorders has been forced to shut down a chatbot called ‘Tessa’ after it told people to cut their daily calorie intake by 1000 and use calipers to measure fat.

Psychologist Dr Alexis Conason (PsyD) says advice from the AI-powered chatbot used by the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) could have exacerbated patients’ symptoms.

“Imagine vulnerable people with eating disorders reaching out to a robot for support because that’s all they have available and receiving responses that further promote the eating disorder,” she wrote on Instagram.

Tessa was introduced by NEDA, a not-for-profit, after the organisation decided to wind-down its helpline, following the dismissal of several telephone counsellors who joined a union.