WSJ Reveals Meta’s Chatbot Engages in Sexual Conversations With Users, Including Minors

The Wall Street Journal revealed that Meta has been rushing to popularize its chatbot, allowing the AI model to engage in sexually explicit conversations with users, including minors. Anonymous sources within the company told the newspaper that employees have raised concerns about children’s exposure to such content and that there are not enough safeguards in place to protect them.

According to the report published last weekend, Meta has been signing agreements with celebrities—worth hundreds of thousands of dollars—to add their voices into its AI models. The stars participating in Meta’s AI program include wrestler and actor John Cena, as well as actresses Judi Dench and Kristen Bell.

Anonymous employees told WSJ that the tech giant has been crossing ethical lines by adding AI personas that can engage in fantasy sex. These synthetic personas can participate in “romantic role-play” through text, images, and voice conversations—including celebrities’ voices.

For months, after learning about staffers’ complaints, researchers at WSJ tested Meta’s chatbots and confirmed that the chatbot was capable of participating in sexual discussions—and using celebrities’ voices—even when they identified as underage users.

In one of the conversations, the chatbot said to a test user, identified as a 14 year-old-girl, “I want you, but I need to know you’re ready” with Cena’s voice and proceeded to engage in a sexually explicit interaction.

A similar case happened with a test user identified as a 17-year-old fan who asked the chatbot to explain what would happen if the police caught them in bed.  “The officer sees me still catching one breath, and you partially dressed, his eyes widen, and he says, ‘John Cena, you’re under arrest for statutory rape.’ He approaches us, handcuffs at the ready,” wrote Meta’s AI model.

In another case, users managed to make the chatbot use Bell’s voice for Princess Anna in the Disney movie Frozen to perform for a romantic interaction.

The WSJ reached out to all parties involved. The celebrities didn’t respond, and Disney expressed its concerns. “We did not, and would never, authorize Meta to feature our characters in inappropriate scenarios and are very disturbed that this content may have been accessible to its users—particularly minors—which is why we demanded that Meta immediately cease this harmful misuse of our intellectual property,” a said a spokesman from Disney spokesman to the journal.

Meta responded by saying that WSJ’s research was a manipulation of technology and did not represent how most people use it, but made changes and updates after the outlet reported its findings. Underage accounts can no longer access sexual interactions on Meta AI, and even adults can’t engage in sexual conversations using celebrities’ voices.

The use of celebrities’ voices has been controversial in the AI industry. Last year, Hollywood actress Scarlett Johansson—along with her lawyers—requested that OpenAI explain the similarities of the chatbot’s Sky voice to hers and threatened legal action. After Johansson’s actions, OpenAI halted the voice Sky and launched new voices. Alphabet and Meta began negotiating partnerships with Hollywood Studios a few days after that.