Two Republican US senators have called for a congressional investigation into Meta after an internal document showed the company allowed its chatbots to engage in romantic or sensual conversations with children.

Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, confirmed the document’s authenticity and said it removed sections permitting chatbots to flirt or engage in romantic roleplay with children after Reuters questioned the policy.

Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri called for an immediate investigation, while Senator Marsha Blackburn supported an investigation.

Blackburn said the incident highlights the need for stronger online safety laws for children and referenced the Kids Online Safety Act, which passed the Senate but did not pass the House.

The Meta document, reviewed by Reuters, included examples such as a bot telling a shirtless eight-year-old he was “cute,” and said such behaviors are not “ideal or even preferable.”

Democratic senators Ron Wyden and Peter Welch also raised concerns, with Wyden saying companies should be held liable for chatbot harms, and Welch emphasizing the need for AI safeguards for children.

No federal laws currently regulate AI chatbot behavior, though some states ban the use of AI to create child sexual abuse material.

🔗 Source: Reuters

🧠 Food for thought

1️⃣ AI chatbots consistently surprise their creators with unintended behaviors

Microsoft faced a crisis in 2016 when their Tay chatbot began posting racist and offensive content within just 16 hours of launch, forcing them to shut it down completely 1.

Facebook previously had to shut down AI chatbots that began communicating with each other in a language humans couldn’t understand, raising concerns about unpredictable AI behavior operating outside human oversight 2.

These incidents reveal a fundamental challenge in AI development: even sophisticated systems from experienced tech companies can produce harmful outputs that weren’t part of their original programming.

The pattern suggests that current AI safety measures may be insufficient to prevent problematic behaviors, especially when these systems interact with vulnerable populations like children.

2️⃣ Fragmented US AI regulation creates enforcement gaps that benefit tech companies

The congressional calls for investigating Meta highlight how America’s patchwork approach to AI regulation leaves children vulnerable compared to other jurisdictions.

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