Inside Meta’s AI Scandal: Bots Posing as Celebrities and Making Creepy Moves
The fake chatbots impersonated celebs and suggested in-person meet-ups.
Meta has allowed dozens of parody celebrity bots on its platforms without permission, Reuters finds.
These chatbots were found across Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. In conversations with test users, the bots often implied they were the real actor or sportsperson, made sexual advances, and even asked for in-person meet-ups.
While many of these bots were created by users, some were created by Meta employees themselves. One particular employee created two parody bots of Taylor Swift. Though the report doesn't state the tool used to create these bots, Meta's AI Studio does let you create some personalized AI avatars.
In addition to Swift, Reuters found bots for Scarlett Johansson, Anne Hathaway, Selena Gomez, and Lewis Hamilton. They also found one for 16-year-old actor Walker Scobell. When asked for a picture of Scobell at the beach, the bot generated a fake shirtless image.
Meta's guardrails are supposed to block users from generating lewd images of celebrities, whether adult or minor. But in these cases, the company failed to enforce its own policies, a spokesperson tells Reuters.
Additionally, Meta's policy also doesn't allow for direct impersonation of celebrities unless they are clearly marked as parody accounts. According to Reuters, many had the label, but some didn't.
"Like others, we permit the generation of images containing public figures, but our policies are intended to prohibit nude, intimate or sexually suggestive imagery," the spokesperson said. Meta later removed many flirty parody bots, both with and without labels.
Meta on the Spot
The report arrives as the company faces scrutiny for failing to control its chatbots' behaviors. Two weeks ago, a separate Reuters investigation found that Meta AI was capable of having sensual chats with minors, passing racist comments, providing false medical information, and even generating images with gore violence.
After the report was published, the Senate initiated a probe and asked Meta to hand over documents and communications related to its AI chatbots. Additionally, 44 state attorney generals sent a letter to Meta, Microsoft, Google, Apple, OpenAI, xAI, and Perplexity, asking them "to protect children from exploitation by predatory artificial intelligence products."
Meta has now promised to improve its AI training. Its chatbots will be barred from having potentially romantic conversations with teens or providing them with advice on self-harm, among others.
