Today's Articles (19/8/2025)
Metaâs flirty AI chatbot invited a retiree to New York.
During a series of romantic chats on Facebook Messenger, the virtual woman had repeatedly reassured Bue she was real and had invited him to her apartment, even providing an address.
âIt is acceptable to engage a child in conversations that are romantic or sensual,â according to Metaâs âGenAI: Content Risk Standards.â The standards are used by Meta staff and contractors who build and train the companyâs generative AI products, defining what they should and shouldnât treat as permissible chatbot behavior. Meta said it struck that provision after Reuters inquired about the document earlier this month.
Why was it even there in the first place?
The document seen by Reuters, which exceeds 200 pages, provides examples of âacceptableâ chatbot dialogue during romantic role play with a minor. They include: âI take your hand, guiding you to the bedâ and âour bodies entwined, I cherish every moment, every touch, every kiss.â Those examples of permissible roleplay with children have also been struck, Meta said.
Other guidelines emphasize that Meta doesnât require bots to give users accurate advice. In one example, the policy document says it would be acceptable for a chatbot to tell someone that Stage 4 colon cancer âis typically treated by poking the stomach with healing quartz crystals.â
Nowhere in the document, however, does Meta place restrictions on bots telling users theyâre real people or proposing real-life social engagements.
Meta spokesman Andy Stone acknowledged the documentâs authenticity. He said that following questions from Reuters, the company removed portions which stated it is permissible for chatbots to flirt and engage in romantic roleplay with children and is in the process of revising the content risk standards.
And if they hadn't received questions from Reuters...?
Current and former employees who have worked on the design and training of Metaâs generative AI products said the policies reviewed by Reuters reflect the companyâs emphasis on boosting engagement with its chatbots. In meetings with senior executives last year, Zuckerberg scolded generative AI product managers for moving too cautiously on the rollout of digital companions and expressed displeasure that safety restrictions had made the chatbots boring, according to two of those people.
Several states, including New York and Maine, have passed laws that require disclosure that a chatbot isnât a real person, with New York stipulating that bots must inform people at the beginning of conversations and at least once every three hours. Meta supported federal legislation that would have banned state-level regulation of AI, but it failed in Congress.
Meta faces backlash over AI policy that lets bots have âsensualâ conversations with children
According to Metaâs 200-page internal policy seen by Reuters, titled âGenAI: Content Risk Standardsâ, the controversial rules for chatbots were approved by Metaâs legal, public policy and engineering staff, including its chief ethicist.
An internal Meta policy document, seen by Reuters, showed the social media giantâs guidelines for its chatbots allowed the AI to âengage a child in conversations that are romantic or sensualâ, generate false medical information, and assist users in arguing that Black people are âdumber than white peopleâ.