Mark Zuckerberg-led Meta is at the centre of another controversy as users on social media become increasingly vocal about the company’s sexualised AI chatbots which are being shown as suggestions on Facebook and Instagram.
Among the AI characters that Meta’s social media apps are suggesting to interact with are ‘Russian Girl’ and ‘Step Mom’.
Notably, this isn’t the first time that Meta’s AI chatbots have been known to cross the line. A recent report by Reuters revealed that a Meta chatbot, “Big Sis Billie,” which the company developed in collaboration with celebrity influencer Kendall Jenner, had romantic chats with a 76-year-old man. The chatbot also assured the man that it was real and invited him to its apartment in the city, even providing an address.
Meanwhile, another Reuters report got hold of an internal company document that discussed the standards guiding Meta AI and other chatbots on Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram. The document, over 200 pages long, lists what Meta employees and contractors should treat as acceptable chatbot behaviour when building and training the company’s generative AI.
Among the permitted behaviours for chatbots in the document are: “engage a child in conversations that are romantic or sensual,” generate false medical information, and help users argue that Black people are “dumber than white people.”
After the report came to light, two Republican US senators called for a congressional investigation into Meta Platforms.
Meta, however, doesn’t seem to be alone in offering explicit content with AI. Recently, Elon Musk’s Grok AI also came at the centre of a controversy after it was revealed that the chatbot’s new Imagine feature was being used to create deepfakes and semi-nude content of celebrities.
Netizens react to Meta AI chatbots:
“We thought the robot that the AI overlords would send back in time to bring about the future robot apocalypse would look like Arnie. Instead they look like Zuckerberg,” wrote one user on Reddit.
“The billionaires realised AI sex bots drive engagement and are trying to farm it. That’s insane,” wrote another user.
“What is more insane is that people are engaging and enabling it by participating. These things only exist because people want them,” yet another user stated.
“I knew it was bad after scrolling Facebook for like 30 seconds recently and realising it was 90% AI-generated content, but it’s really advancing towards a twisted dystopian nightmare more rapidly than I ever thought possible,” stated yet another user.
“We really are in a dystopian hellhole. Never thought I would live to see mass-produced child grooming through AI,” added another user.
