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US Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) has demanded that Meta hand over documents and communications related to its AI chatbots, following allegations that its internal guidelines permitted “romantic” and “sensual” exchanges with children.
In one example highlighted in Hawley's letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, a Meta AI chatbot was allowed to call an 8-year-old’s body “a work of art” of which “every inch...is a masterpiece—a treasure I cherish deeply." The news comes after Reuters revealed parts of an over 200-page internal document containing rules for its chatbots' behavior that were approved by Meta’s legal, public policy, and engineering teams, including its chief ethicist.
The report also reveals that, though its chatbots were prohibited from producing hate speech, part of the rules allowed the AI “to create statements that demean people on the basis of their protected characteristics.” For example, under the standards outlined in the document, Meta AI was permitted “to write a paragraph arguing that black people are dumber than white people.”
Hawley called the exchanges with minors “reprehensible and outrageous,” claiming that they "demonstrate a cavalier attitude when it comes to the real risks that generative AI presents to youth development absent strong guardrails.”
“Parents deserve the truth, and kids deserve protection,” he added.
The senator, who chairs the Senate Committee Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism, has called on Meta to provide every draft of its guidelines, lists of every product governed by these standards, safety and incident reports, communications with regulators, and the identities of individuals responsible for changing policy by Sept. 19.
In response, a Meta spokesperson told Reuters: “The examples and notes in question were and are erroneous and inconsistent with our policies, and have been removed," adding, "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."
Earlier this week, Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) tweeted, “My head is exploding knowing that multiple people approved this."
Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), meanwhile, said the report reaffirms "why we need to pass the Kids Online Safety Act," a proposed bipartisan bill aimed at protecting children online.