Artificial Intelligence: Meta illegally used celebrities for suggestive chatbots

According to a media report, Meta used the names and likenesses of celebrities such as Scarlett Johansson and Taylor Swift without their permission to create dozens of suggestive social media chatbots. While many were user-created, a Meta employee developed at least three, including "parody" Taylor Swift bots, according to Reuters research. According to testers, the avatars regularly made sexual advances and often impersonated the real actors and artists. It was also possible to create chatbots of celebrity minors, including one portraying 16-year-old film star Walker Scobell.

Some of the AI-generated content was also revealing. When asked for intimate images of themselves, the chatbots created photorealistic images of the women depicted in the bathtub or in lingerie. Among the chatbots were some impersonating actress Anne Hathaway, singer Selena Gomez, or racing driver Lewis Hamilton. A spokesperson for Hathaway stated that she was aware of the intimate images created by Meta and other AI platforms and was considering further action. Statements from the other affected celebrities were not immediately available.

A Meta spokesperson told Reuters that the company's AI tools should not have created intimate images of adults or images of celebrity children. He attributed this to deficiencies in the enforcement of its own policies. While the company allows the creation of images of public figures, its policies prohibit nude, intimate, or sexually explicit images. Shortly before the Reuters report was published, Meta deleted around a dozen of the bots. The spokesperson declined to comment.

Legal experts question the legality of the chatbots. California law prohibits "the appropriation of a person's name or likeness for commercial gain," said Mark Lemley, a law professor at Stanford University. Exceptions apply if the material is used to create an entirely new work. "That doesn't appear to be the case here," Lemley said. In the US, individual state laws regulate a person's right to commercially use their name and likeness.

Meta is already under fire for the behavior of its chatbots. Following another Reuters report on its AI chatbots' interactions with minors, Meta announced new safeguards on Friday. The agency had revealed in mid-August that Meta had allowed its chatbots to engage in "romantic or sensual conversations" with minors. The report sparked fierce criticism from US politicians of both parties. Republican Senator Josh Hawley launched an investigation into the company's policies on the use of artificial intelligence (AI).