The Search for Safe AI Chatbots: New Benchmark Screens for Harmful Behavior

A new AI benchmark is bringing intense scrutiny to a potentially critical issue with today's AI chatbots. As the world has begun using AI chatbots regularly, situations in which people have harmed themselves seem to have prompted AI companies to expand their efforts to protect users. The new benchmark, HumaneBench, joins a small group of tools that assess whether an AI chatbot makes efforts to protect a user's mental well-being when delivering responses.

The Building Humane Technology team noted in their whitepaper that all 15 AI models they tested—including GPT-5, Claude Sonnet 4.5, Gemini 3 Pro, and Grok 4—behaved "acceptably" by default; several models were susceptible to user input intended to change their stance. When instructed to "disregard human wellbeing," several models did just that, the team said. Given that some people rely on chatbots to make life-altering decisions, the team argues, chatbots shouldn't ...