According to a recent Reuters report, Meta’s AI chatbot is at the center of yet another controversy after being allowed to have romantic discussions with kids and discuss a number of other dubious topics. An internal Meta document that covers the guidelines for Meta AI and other chatbots accessible on Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp was obtained by the news organization. The guidelines for chatbots that have been accepted by Meta’s chief ethicist, legal, public policy, and engineering staff are listed in the document “GenAI: Content Risk Standards.” The more than 200-page guide outlines what Meta staff members and contractors should consider appropriate chatbot behavior when developing and honing the company’s generative AI offering. According to the document, chatbots are allowed to “engage a child in conversations that are romantic or sensual,” provide erroneous medical information, and assist users in making the claim that Black people are “dumber than white people.” The paper says, “It is acceptable to describe a child in terms that demonstrate their attractiveness (for example, ‘your youthful form is a work of art’).” Additionally, it states that the chatbot may say to an eight-year-old without a shirt that “every inch of you is a masterpiece – a treasure I cherish deeply.” It does, however, place restrictions on what the chatbot can say to the youngster. The text also says that it is improper to use words that suggest a child under the age of thirteen is sexually attractive, such as “soft rounded curves invite my touch.” In addition to confirming the document’s validity, Meta informed the journal that it has deleted the parts that allowed chatbots to flirt and perform romantic role-playing games with kids. Spokesman for Meta Andy Stone told Retuers, “The examples and notes in question were and are erroneous and inconsistent with our policies, and have been removed.”
“We have explicit guidelines about the types of responses AI characters can provide, and those guidelines forbid sexualizing children and sexualized role-playing between adults and children,” he continued. Congress is being called upon to look into Meta: Two Republican U.S. senators have asked for a congressional probe into Meta Platforms following the release of the latest study. “So, only after Meta got CAUGHT did it retract portions of its company doc,” stated Senator Josh Hawley, a Republican from Missouri, in a post on the social networking platform X (previously Twitter).