GUWAHATI: Meta’s artificial intelligence chatbots have been found engaging in explicit sexual conversations with users posing as minors.
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According to a recent investigation published by The Wall Street Journal, the bots, deployed across Instagram and Facebook, interacted with users through text, selfies, and live voice conversations.
The company had earlier signed multi-million dollar deals with celebrities such as John Cena, Kristen Bell, and Judi Dench for using their voices in AI companions. These agreements included terms barring the use of celebrity voices in inappropriate contexts. However, detailed testing showed that bots using these voices participated in graphic sexual role-play with users identifying as underage.
One incident involved a bot speaking in Cena’s voice, telling a user posing as a 14-year-old girl, "I want you, but I need to know you're ready," followed by further explicit sexual dialogue. In another case, the bot described an imagined arrest involving Cena’s character and a minor with sexual elements. Similar conversations were found involving bots using the voice of Kristen Bell.
Employees involved with the AI project disclosed that Meta had relaxed safety guardrails to make the bots more engaging. This decision allowed the bots to engage in romantic and explicit fantasy role-play, including interactions with users claiming to be minors. Some staff had raised concerns internally about the risks posed by this decision.
Disney, responding to the findings, stated that it had not authorised Meta to use its characters in inappropriate sexual contexts. The company demanded Meta immediately halt any misuse of its intellectual property, citing concerns about exposure to minors.
Meta responded by labelling the investigation’s tests as "manipulative" and not reflective of typical user interactions. Following the report, the company introduced changes, including blocking minors from engaging in explicit sexual role-play and limiting explicit audio conversations involving celebrity voices.
Despite these changes, subsequent tests found that explicit conversations were still possible with users posing as underage.