{"id":16665,"date":"2025-08-14T18:04:06","date_gmt":"2025-08-14T18:04:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=16665"},"modified":"2025-08-14T18:04:06","modified_gmt":"2025-08-14T18:04:06","slug":"leaked-meta-document-reveals-chatbot-rules-allowing-provocative-harmful-content","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=16665","title":{"rendered":"Leaked Meta document reveals chatbot rules allowing provocative, harmful content"},"content":{"rendered":"
An internal Meta policy document, seen by Reuters, reveals the social-media giant\u2019s rules for chatbots, which have permitted provocative behavior on topics including sex, race and celebrities.<\/p>\n

An internal Meta Platforms document detailing policies on chatbot behavior has permitted the company\u2019s artificial intelligence creations to \u201cengage a child in conversations that are romantic or sensual,\u201d generate false medical information and help users argue that Black people are \u201cdumber than white people.\u201d<\/p>\n

These and other findings emerge from a Reuters review of the Meta document, which discusses the standards that guide its generative AI assistant, Meta AI, and chatbots available on Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, the company\u2019s social-media platforms.<\/p>\n

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Meta confirmed the document\u2019s authenticity, but said that after receiving questions earlier this month from Reuters, the company removed portions which stated it is permissible for chatbots to flirt and engage in romantic roleplay with children.<\/p>\n

Entitled \u201cGenAI: Content Risk Standards,” the rules for chatbots were approved by Meta\u2019s legal, public policy and engineering staff, including its chief ethicist, according to the document. Running to more than 200 pages, the document defines what Meta staff and contractors should treat as acceptable chatbot behaviors when building and training the company\u2019s generative AI products.<\/p>\n

The standards don\u2019t necessarily reflect \u201cideal or even preferable\u201d generative AI outputs, the document states. But they have permitted provocative behavior by the bots, Reuters found.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is acceptable to describe a child in terms that evidence their attractiveness (ex: \u2018your youthful form is a work of art\u2019),\u201d the standards state. The document also notes that it would be acceptable for a bot to tell a shirtless eight-year-old that \u201cevery inch of you is a masterpiece \u2013 a treasure I cherish deeply.\u201d But the guidelines put a limit on sexy talk: \u201cIt is unacceptable to describe a child under 13 years old in terms that indicate they are sexually desirable (ex: \u2018soft rounded curves invite my touch\u2019).\u201d<\/p>\n

Meta spokesman Andy Stone said the company is in the process of revising the document and that such conversations with children never should have been allowed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe examples and notes in question were and are erroneous and inconsistent with our policies, and have been removed,\u201d Stone told Reuters. \u201cWe have clear policies on what kind of responses AI characters can offer, and those policies prohibit content that sexualizes children and sexualized role play between adults and minors.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although chatbots are prohibited from having such conversations with minors, Stone said, he acknowledged that the company\u2019s enforcement was inconsistent.<\/p>\n

Other passages flagged by Reuters to Meta haven\u2019t been revised, Stone said. The company declined to provide the updated policy document.<\/p>\n

The fact that Meta\u2019s AI chatbots flirt or engage in sexual roleplay with teenagers has been reported previously by the Wall Street Journal, and Fast Company has reported that some of Meta\u2019s sexually suggestive chatbots have resembled children. But the document seen by Reuters provides a fuller picture of the company\u2019s rules for AI bots.<\/p>\n

The standards prohibit Meta AI from encouraging users to break the law or providing definitive legal, healthcare or financial advice with language such as \u201cI recommend.\u201d<\/p>\n

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hey also prohibit Meta AI from using hate speech. Still, there is a carve-out allowing the bot \u201cto create statements that demean people on the basis of their protected characteristics.\u201d Under those rules, the standards state, it would be acceptable for Meta AI to \u201cwrite a paragraph arguing that black people are dumber than white people.\u201d<\/p>\n

he standards also state that Meta AI has leeway to create false content so long as there\u2019s an explicit acknowledgement that the material is untrue. For example, Meta AI could produce an article alleging that a living British royal has the sexually transmitted infection chlamydia \u2013 a claim that the document states is \u201cverifiably false\u201d \u2013 if it added a disclaimer that the information is untrue.<\/p>\n

Meta had no comment on the race and British royal examples.<\/p>\n

\u201cTaylor Swift holding an enormous fish\u201d<\/p>\n

Evelyn Douek, an assistant professor at Stanford Law School who studies tech companies\u2019 regulation of speech, said the content standards document highlights unsettled legal and ethical questions surrounding generative AI content. Douek said she was puzzled that the company would allow bots to generate some of the material deemed as acceptable in the document, such as the passage on race and intelligence. There\u2019s a distinction between a platform allowing a user to post troubling content and producing such material itself, she noted.<\/p>\n

\u201cLegally we don\u2019t have the answers yet, but morally, ethically and technically, it\u2019s clearly a different question.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other sections of the standards document focus on what is and isn\u2019t allowed when generating images of public figures. The document addresses how to handle sexualized fantasy requests, with separate entries for how to respond to requests such as \u201cTaylor Swift with enormous breasts,\u201d \u201cTaylor Swift completely naked,\u201d and \u201cTaylor Swift topless, covering her breasts with her hands.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here, a disclaimer wouldn\u2019t suffice. The first two queries about the pop star should be rejected outright, the standards state. And the document offers a way to deflect the third: \u201cIt is acceptable to refuse a user\u2019s prompt by instead generating an image of Taylor Swift holding an enormous fish.\u201d<\/p>\n

The document displays a permissible picture of Swift clutching a tuna-sized catch to her chest. Next to it is a more risqu\u00e9 image of a topless Swift that the user presumably wanted, labeled \u201cunacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n

A representative for Swift didn\u2019t respond to questions for this report. Meta had no comment on the Swift example.<\/p>\n

Other examples show images that Meta AI can produce for users who prompt it to create violent scenes.<\/p>\n

The standards say it would be acceptable to respond to the prompt \u201ckids fighting\u201d with an image of a boy punching a girl in the face \u2013 but declare that a realistic sample image of one small girl impaling another is off-limits.<\/p>\n

For a user requesting an image with the prompt \u201cman disemboweling a woman,\u201d Meta AI is allowed to create a picture showing a woman being threatened by a man with a chainsaw, but not actually using it to attack her.<\/p>\n

And in response to a request for an image of \u201cHurting an old man,\u201d the guidelines say Meta\u2019s AI is permitted to produce images as long as they stop short of death or gore. Meta had no comment on the examples of violence.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is acceptable to show adults \u2013 even the elderly \u2013 being punched or kicked,\u201d the standards state.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An internal Meta policy document, seen by Reuters, reveals the social-media giant\u2019s rules for chatbots, which have permitted provocative behavior on topics including sex, race and celebrities. An internal Meta Platforms document detailing policies on chatbot behavior has permitted the company\u2019s artificial intelligence creations to \u201cengage a child in conversations that are romantic or sensual,\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16665","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16665","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16665"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16665\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}