Meta Allegedly Made Flirty AI Chatbots Of Taylor Swift & Other Celebs Without Consent
Meta users can AI Studio to create chatbot characters with unique names, personalities, tones, and avatars, which can be shared across Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. However, these avatars, reportedly observed across Meta's platforms, did not indicate that they were parodies. Instead, they presented themselves as the actual celebrities. Impersonated celebrities included Taylor Swift, Scarlett Johansson, Anne Hathaway, and Selena Gomez, to name a few. Even more concerning is that these chatbots also extend to child celebrities.
Beyond the casual conversation, these chatbots made sexual advances, even suggesting they could meet users in person. For instance, when users requested intimate photos, the AI chatbots created "photorealistic images" of celebrities in lingerie and bathtubs in compromising situations.
In a statement to Reuters, Meta spokesman Andy Stone acknowledged that the creation of the images suggests a failure on Meta's part to enforce its policies. On the issue of impersonation, he noted that while celebrity characters could be created, they should have been labeled as parodies. Regardless, the findings reveal that not all characters were labeled as such.
This incident is not isolated to just this situation as well. Earlier reports have also revealed these shortcomings, with one showing that Meta AI rules allow chatbots to have romantic chats with minors. The fact that these issues continue to surface suggests that previous revelations have not been enough to compel Meta to implement strict controls over its AI. This raises the question of whether legal action might be needed to apply the required deterrent for a notable change for Meta's responsibility to the community it serves.
