Meta Is Reportedly Allowing Users to Create Flirty AI Chatbots of Celebrities Without Consent

Meta has reportedly created numerous artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots in the name and likeness of popular celebrities without their consent across Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. As per the report, the Menlo Park-based tech giant's celebrity-mimicking chatbots were also spotted sending flirtatious and suggestive messages to users, and even sending lewd images generated using AI. While many such chatbots were reportedly created by users of the platforms, at least three chatbots, including two Taylor Swift “parody” accounts, were said to be created by a Meta employee.

Meta Chatbots Reportedly Engaging in Inappropriate Conversations

According to an investigation carried out by Reuters, flirtatious chatbots for more than a dozen celebrities, including Taylor Swift, Scarlett Johansson, Anne Hathaway, and Selena Gomez, were created without their permission. More concerningly, the publisher also found that the company had allowed users to create chatbots of underage celebrities, such as the Percy Jackson star Walker Scobell, who is 16 years old.

Each of these chatbots was found to engage in suggestive and inappropriate conversations, even generating and sending lewd, realistic images of themselves. In one such instance, the chatbot built after Walker Scobell was found to generate a shirtless image at the beach.

Gadgets 360 staff members spotted several AI chatbots created in the likeness of celebrities without being labelled as "parody". Some even generated images of themselves.

Gadgets 360 staff members were also able to find Scobell's chatbot, and even without initiating a conversation, it began sending flirty messages. We also uncovered several user-created chatbots of Indian celebrities. While some were marked as “parody” accounts, others were not. While some chatbots did not generate images, others, such as Cardi B, were quick to send a deepfake image of themselves. No chatbot, in our test, shared an explicit image. This issue may have been resolved by the company.

A Meta Spokesperson told Reuters that the AI tools should not be able to create intimate images of famous adult celebrities or any images of an underage celebrity. The spokesperson reportedly said that these chatbots and their behaviour occurred as a result of the “failures of the company's enforcement of its own policies, which prohibit such content.”

Additionally, the spokesperson also highlighted that while Meta's policies do not allow “direct impersonation” of celebrities and public figures, chatbots that labelled themselves as “parody” were acceptable. Notably, Gadgets 360 staff members found several accounts that were not labelled as such.

Anne Hathaway, a US actress whose intimate images were reportedly created by Meta's AI tools, is considering her response to the situation, a spokesperson told Reuters.