Senators Call For Probe Into Meta After News Report On AI Conversations With Children

Authored by Jacob Burg via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Two Republican Senators on Aug. 14 called for a congressional investigation into Meta Platforms, Facebook’s parent company, after a recent news media report revealed an internal policy document that allowed the company’s chatbots to have “romantic or sensual” conversations with a child.

On Thursday, Reuters reported that it had viewed a Meta policy document detailing polices on chatbot behavior that permitted the technology to “engage a child in conversations that are romantic or sensual,” generate incorrect medical information, and assist users in arguing that black people are “dumber than white people.”

While Meta confirmed the authenticity of the document, the company said that after recently receiving questions from Reuters, it removed the portions stating that the chatbot is allowed to flirt or participate in romantic roleplay with children.

Andy Stone, a spokesperson for Meta, said the company is currently revising the documents and that those types of conversations with children should never have been permitted.

“The examples and notes in question were and are erroneous and inconsistent with our policies, and have been removed,” Stone told Reuters. “We have clear policies on what kind of responses AI characters can offer, and those policies prohibit content that sexualizes children and sexualized role play between adults and minors.”

On the X platform, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) criticized the company for allegedly only making the changes after being questioned by Reuters.

“So, only after Meta got CAUGHT did it retract portions of its company doc that deemed it ‘permissible for chatbots to flirt and engage in romantic roleplay with children,’” Hawley said. “This is grounds for an immediate congressional investigation.”

A spokesperson for Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) said she supports a probe into Meta.

After Hawley called for an investigation, a Meta spokesperson reiterated the company’s previous statement. However, the spokesperson declined to comment on Hawley’s remarks.

Blackburn said the report underscores the need to pass reforms for better protection of children online, like the Kids Online Safety Act. The senator co-sponsored the bill, which passed in the Senate last year by a bipartisan 91–3 vote, but failed in the House.

The bill called for certain platforms, such as social media networks, to “take reasonable measures in the design and operation of products or services used by minors to prevent and mitigate certain harms that may arise from that use (e.g., sexual exploitation and online bullying).”

“Additionally, covered platforms must provide (1) minors with certain safeguards, such as settings that restrict access to minors’ personal data; and (2) parents or guardians with tools to supervise minors’ use of a platform, such as control of privacy and account settings,” the bill states.

Blackburn reintroduced the Kids Online Safety Act in May.

“When it comes to protecting precious children online, Meta has failed miserably by every possible measure. Even worse, the company has turned a blind eye to the devastating consequences of how its platforms are designed,” Blackburn said.

The legislation would also explicitly define a “duty of care” that social media companies employ regarding minors’ use of their products, focusing on the regulation of the companies and the platforms’ designs.

The Meta document states that the standards in question do not necessarily reflect “ideal or even preferable” generative AI outputs, according to Reuters. However, the provocative outputs by bots have been permitted, the news outlet’s analysis revealed.

The Epoch Times has not independently verified the document in question.

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) called the standards “deeply disturbing and wrong.” He said Section 230, the law that protects internet companies from liability for statements or content posted on their platforms, should not extend to shielding the companies’ generative AI chatbots.

“Meta and Zuckerberg should be held fully responsible for any harm these bots cause,” Wyden said.

Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) said Reuters’s report “shows how critical safeguards are for AI—especially when the health and safety of kids is at risk.”