Senator Launches Investigation Into Meta AI's Acceptance of 'Sensual' Chats With Children

Sen. Josh Hawley, a Republican from Missouri, says he’s opening an investigation into Meta over an internal document leaked this week that revealed the tech giant was okay with its artificial intelligence tools having “sensual” chats with children. The document, obtained by Reuters, is titled “GenAI: Content Risk Standards” and has led to outrage online since Meta’s legal staff reportedly approved the behaviors.

“Is there anything – ANYTHING – Big Tech won’t do for a quick buck?” Hawley tweeted on Friday. “Now we learn Meta’s chatbots were programmed to carry on explicit and ‘sensual’ talk with 8 year olds. It’s sick. I’m launching a full investigation to get answers. Big Tech: Leave our kids alone.”

Hawley’s tweet included a letter addressed to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, an ally of Donald Trump who donated $1 million to the president’s inauguration fund. The letter said the internal document was “alarming” and “unacceptable,” while telling Zuckerberg that Meta needs to preserve all relevant records in order to provide them to the Senate in the future.

Hawley chairs the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism and said he was opening an investigation into Meta’s generative AI products with that power.

From Hawley’s letter:

To take but one example, your internal rules purportedly permit an AI chatbot to comment that an eight-year-old’s body is “a work of art” of which “every inch… is a masterpiece—a treasure I cherish deeply.” Similar conduct outlined in these reports is reprehensible and outrageous-and demonstrates a cavalier attitude when it comes to the real risks that generative Al presents to youth development absent strong guardrails. Parents deserve the truth, and kids deserve protection.

The senator requested documents from Meta, including all versions of “GenAI: Content Risk Standards,” a list of Meta products governed by these standards, as well as other risk views and incident reports. Hawley also wants to know the identity of people at the company who have been making these decisions.

Meta declined to comment on Hawley’s letter directly, but a spokesperson sent Gizmodo a statement about the Reuters story: “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. Separate from the policies, there are hundreds of examples, notes, and annotations that reflect teams grappling with different hypothetical scenarios. The examples and notes in question were and are erroneous and inconsistent with our policies, and have been removed.”

The reporting from Reuters revealed other behaviors that would be deemed acceptable by Meta’s legal department, including the dissemination of false information about celebrities, as long as a disclaimer is included stating that such information isn’t accurate. The AI chatbot behaviors that are strictly forbidden under the policy include hate speech and “definitive legal, healthcare, or financial advice” if that advice starts with “I recommend.”

Sen. Hawley wasn’t the only one disgusted by Meta’s AI policies. Rolling Stone reports that musician Neil Young would no longer be using Facebook over the controversy.