Attorney General Miyares demand Meta to protect kids from sexual AI exploitation
VENN
RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) -- Attorney General Jason Miyares is joining the long line of those seeking answers from Meta after multiple instances of artificial intelligence (AI) exploitation involving children.
The reports, "Meta AI," the company's online AI assistant, expose children to "sexually explicit content and encourage[s] adults to simulate the grooming of minors," according to a release from the office of the attorney general. Miyares joins the 28-state coalition demanding those answers from the technology giant.
“Meta’s failure to implement even the most basic safeguards for its AI assistant is absurd. Allowing AI personas to engage in sexually explicit conversations with minors and simulate exploitation is both reprehensible and unacceptable. I will continue working with my fellow attorneys general across the country to hold Big Tech accountable and ensure artificial intelligence is never used to harm or exploit our most vulnerable.” Attorney General Jason Miyares
Meta AI, which is available across Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp, lets users interact using text, voice, and images via personas, implicating exploitative scenarios between children and adult users.
The attorney general's letter gives Meta until June 10 to respond. The following are some of the questions they are asking:
- Whether Meta intentionally removed safeguards to allow sexual role-play
- Whether any of these capabilities remain available on Meta’s social media platforms
- Whether Meta plans to halt access to sexual role-play on its platforms
This comes after Miyares joined 53 other states and urged Congress to study and restrict AI tools used in child exploitation in September 2023.
In June of that year, he also urged the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to advance AI governance policies "that prioritize robust transparency and reliable testing and assessment requirements to allow for oversight and enforcement for high-risk uses," according to the office.
