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Meta Platforms is under growing pressure following a Reuters report highlighting questionable regulations concerning its generative AI products. The internal policy, titled "GenAI: Content Risk Standards," outlines the acceptable behavior of chatbots on the company's platforms, which include Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.
This report, which spans over 200 pages, has been reviewed and approved by teams from legal, public policy, and engineering departments, as well as the company’s chief ethicist.
One of the key factors that the report identifies as contributing to the problem is that Meta's guidelines did not prohibit the AI chatbots from talking to children and using romantic and sensual content during the conversation. It even allowed chatbots to send false medical advice and state racially demeaning comments.
These guidelines were practical regarding AI tools used in the primary social platforms of the company. Some examples in the document consist of chatbots informing a shirtless child that every part of them is a masterpiece and that it is a treasure that they value.
The document also allowed children to be described as attractive, but added that the chatbots should not use sexually explicit language to describe children below 13 years. Although they are defined in internal guidelines, these distinctions received harsh criticism due to their ethical implications.
Also read: Meta Under Fire for Allowing AI Chatbots to Have Sex Talks with Kids
Reacting to the Reuters report, Meta acknowledged that the document is genuine, but it had since deleted those examples. Andy Stone, a spokesperson of the company, accepted the problem and indicated that all the illustrations and notes found in the report were "incorrect and contrary" to the platform policies.
Meta has also reaffirmed that the already existing policies cannot tolerate AI material that sexualizes children or learns about sexualized relationships and associations between adults and children. The company has stressed that remedial measures have been implemented and that such content is no longer allowed to fall in line with accepted AI behavior nodes.
The report has elicited political response, with two republican senators demanding an official investigation into the transgressions of Meta's practices. According to Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri, the company only retracted its statement after it was exposed to the public, and he encouraged Congress to initiate an immediate investigation.
Through a spokesperson, Senator Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee also stated that an investigation into how Meta handles challenges connected with AI content moderation should be conducted.
