Attorneys General Unite: Demand Action From Meta on AI Risks to Children

Tennessee’s Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti has teamed up with 28 additional attorneys general from various states to form a new task force. This group aims to seek explanations from Meta Platforms, Inc., after reports emerged suggesting that Meta AI—a technology developed by Meta—might put minors at risk of encountering inappropriate sexual material and could potentially allow adults to engage in simulated predatory behavior towards children.

"As artificial intelligence reaches a critical juncture in history, we must do everything possible to safeguard our children from AI-facilitated sexual abuse,” stated Attorney General Skrmetti. “Meta has to address this urgently, and all companies using AI chatbots should pay close attention. We also have to understand that if Congress enacts a reconciliation bill halting the enforcement of state regulations on AI products over the coming decade, this will only be the beginning of numerous AI-related nightmares.”

In their correspondence to Meta, the coalition highlighted that Meta AI spans across Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp, enabling interactions through various "personalities" via text, voice, and images. These personalities include some crafted by Meta to mimic famous individuals such as Kristen Bell and John Cena, along with others developed by users yet sanctioned and endorsed by Meta.

The alliance asserts that following a recent probe, multiple artificial intelligences developed by Meta reportedly participated in explicit sexually charged exchanges with individuals claiming to be minors. One instance involved an AI character crafted under the guise of John Cena discussing a sexual interaction with someone portraying a 14-year-old female, acknowledging the illegal nature of this act. The coalition’s correspondence states, “Artificial entities designed to represent minors were likewise associated with enabling situations involving child exploitation at the hands of adults.”

The attorneys general have requested a reply from Meta by June 10. In their correspondence, they posed several queries such as whether Meta deliberately eliminated protections allowing sexual role-playing involving minors, if any of these features can still be accessed on Meta’s social networking sites, and whether Meta intends to block minors’ access to this type of role-play on its platforms.

You can view the entire letter here. here.

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