--- title: "Eating Disorder Hotline Fires Entire Staff and Replaces Them with a Chatbot" description: "Workers at an eating disorder crisis hotline unionized. Four days later, those workers were told they'd be replaced with a chatbot." date: "2023-05-26" modified: "2023-05-26" authors: - name: "Maggie Harrison Dupré" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/mharrison" url: "https://futurism.com/eating-disorder-hotline-staff-chatbot" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" tags: - "ai" - "ai chatbots" - "automation" --- # Eating Disorder Hotline Fires Entire Staff and Replaces Them with a Chatbot ![Workers at an eating disorder crisis hotline unionized. Four days later, those workers were told they'd be replaced with a chatbot.]() *\Image: Getty / Futurism\* Workers taking crisis hotline calls at the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) unionized — and just four days later, [according to an *NPR* report](), NEDA told its hotline staff that they would be fired and replaced by a chatbot. Per *NPR*, the hotline is hugely active. NEDA is the largest eating disorder-focused nonprofit in the US, and its helpline fielded nearly 70,000 calls last year alone. But for all of that volume, staffing was astonishingly slim, with only six paid staffers and a few supervisors, who "train and oversee up to 200 volunteers at any given time," according to the report. Unsurprisingly, NEDA experienced high volunteer turnover and burnout — after all, on top of the staffing disparity, answering helpline calls is difficult emotional labor — and as a result, workers opted to organize. "We asked for adequate staffing and ongoing training... we didn't even ask for more money," Abbie Harper, a former helpline associate and unionizer, [wrote in a May 4 blog post](). "When NEDA refused \[to recognize our union\], we filed for an election with the National Labor Relations Board and won on March 17." But the company's leadership apparently didn't take well to the union push, announcing in a call just a few days thereafter that the nonprofit would wind down the crisis hotline entirely. Instead, they would introduce a "wellness chatbot" named Tessa — and fire the nonprofit's human call-takers in the process. "We will, subject to the terms of our legal responsibilities, begin to wind down the helpline as currently operating," NEDA board chair Geoff Craddock told the hotline's former employees in that March call, audio of which *NPR* obtained. "With a transition to Tessa, the AI-assisted technology, expected around June 1." According to its website, Tessa, which has technically been in operation since 2022, isn't a crisis bot — in fact, when you log onto the service, that's the first thing that it'll tell you. It's designed instead to deliver something called "Body Positive," which is described as "an interactive eating disorder prevention program." "Through Body Positive," reads the site, "chatters learn about contributing factors to negative body image and gain a toolbox of healthy habits and coping strategies for handling negative thoughts." Tessa's creators have launched a staunch defense of the automated tool, arguing since it can handle more volume than NEDA's former fleet of volunteers, it'll be more effective. "The chatbot was created based on decades of research conducted by myself and my colleagues," Ellen Fitzsimmons-Craft, a psychiatrist at Washington University and the leader on the team that built Tessa, [told *Vice*](). "I'm not discounting in any way the potential helpfulness to talk to somebody about concerns. It's an entirely different service designed to teach people evidence-based strategies to prevent and provide some early intervention for eating disorder symptoms." It's certainly a [grim turn for employment politics]() — after all, we can definitely imagine a nightmare world in which employers start to dangle automated machines like Tessa over their human employees' heads as leverage. But Tessa's implementation also brings up a whole other set of issues regarding responsibility. Sure, humans make mistakes, but at least there's accountability there. When a machine learning system makes a mistake, who's accountable? Though NEDA and Tessa's creators promise that the bot isn't ChatGPT and, as the NEDA spokesperson told *Vice*, can't "go off the rails," any computer can fail. "We, Helpline Associates United, are heartbroken to lose our jobs and deeply disappointed that the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) has chosen to move forward with shutting down the helpline," Helpline Associates United told *Vice* in a statement. "We're not quitting. We're not striking. We will continue to show up every day to support our community until June 1st." "A chatbot is no substitute for human empathy, and we believe this decision will cause irreparable harm to the eating disorders community," they added. **More on chatbots:** [*Widow Says Man Died by Suicide After Talking to AI Chatbot*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've reported extensively on the rise of AI as a cultural and business force shaping the media industry, and more broadly how those dynamics are changing how we all consume and share information and relate to one another. I'm also fascinated by public health policy and ethics, the role of emerging tech in politics and governance — and the powerful people and forces at those intersections — climate change, and the environment. My investigation on Sports Illustrated's use of AI-generated authors with fictional biographies won a 2024 Mirror Award for "Best Story on Media Coverage of Artificial Intelligence in Journalism and the Media" from Syracuse University's SI Newhouse School, I contributed to Niemen Lab's 2025 Predictions for Journalism series, and I've discussed my work for Futurism during appearances on NPR, CNN, the BBC, the CBC, and more. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I played Division I field hockey for the Minutewomen as a midfielder. Since then, I've lived in New Orleans, Louisiana and Manhattan, New York. I spend my free time running, reading, perusing archival fashion, and searching for the world’s best negroni. I also have a debonair tuxedo cat, Westley, who's named after "The Princess Bride." ### Author social links [Bluesky]()