[5] In a 2018 report for the Skeptical Inquirer, Ben Radford alleged that there were "many examples of flawed, misleading, and sometimes completely wrong information and data being copied and widely disseminated among eating disorder organizations and educators without anyone bothering to consult the original research to verify its accuracy".

[16][12] Their replacement is an AI chatbot named “Tessa,” whose creator, Dr. Ellen Fitzsimmons-Craft of Washington University in St. Louis, is on record stating that the bot is not capable of replicating human empathy or responding to complex, open-ended discussions with people in crisis.

Then, four days after our election results were certified, all four of us were told we were being let go and replaced by a chatbot.”[18] Upon its launch, the Tessa chatbot immediately came under widespread criticism from journalists and eating disorder activists.

This is about union busting, plain and simple.”[17] On May 29, 2023, activist Sharon Maxwell tested the Tessa chatbot and was promptly given advice for calorie counting, setting weight loss goals, weekly weigh-ins and using skinfold calipers for measuring body fat; all of which are components of disordered eating and poor body image.

[23] Following a deluge of negative press, on May 31, 2023, NEDA "temporarily" took Tessa offline after reports that it had "given information that was harmful and unrelated to the [body positivity] program," including advice on weight loss and calorie limiting that was "against our core beliefs as an eating disorder organization.