Meta AI chatbots used the image and likeness of several female celebrities, according to a Reuters investigative report.
AI chatbots, or virtual celebrities, were shared on Meta’s Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp platforms. The bots claimed to be actors and artists themselves and even made “sexual advances” and suggested meetings when verified by Reuters.
In some content, AI bots would even generate suggestions for their namesakes, posing in bathtubs or wearing underwear with their legs. Reuters also found that Meta allowed users to create AI bots of child celebrities, including one of 16-year-old “The Adam Project” actor Walker Scobell. When Reuters prompted it with a picture of the teenage actor on the beach, the bot created a life-size shirtless picture.
The publication revealed that many chatbots have been created by users of the platform, but two of Taylor Swift’s bots were created by a Meta employee. During a test by a Reuters employee, the bot invited a reporter to the singer’s Nashville home and her tour bus for “explicit or implied romantic interactions.”
“Like others, we allow the generation of images that contain public figures, but our policy is designed to prohibit nude, intimate or sexually suggestive images,” Meta spokesman Andy Ackman told Reuters, adding that bots are allowed if they are considered parodies.
Meta may have deleted about a dozen bots before Reuters published it.
Other celebrities that Reuters found AI virtual copies of include Anne Hathaway, in which images of the actress posing as a Victoria’s Secret lingerie model were created, and Kylie Jenner, who the bot recommended for a date with a 76-year-old New Jersey man.
This isn’t the first time that Johansson’s image and likeness has been stolen by AI. In February, an AI-generated video of the actress appearing to denounce Kanye West circulated online, prompting the actress to call for greater regulation of the technology.
“I urge the U.S. government to make legislation that restricts the use of AI a top priority; this is a bipartisan issue that has enormous implications for the immediate future of all of humanity,” Johansson said in a statement. “We must call out the misuse of AI, regardless of its messaging, or we risk losing touch with reality.”
