Markey Urging Against Meta Chatbots For Minors

Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey is "urging Meta to no longer allow minors to access AI chatbots on its platforms."

The Democrat's request follows alarming reports regarding Meta's AI chatbot standards and limited evidence about its effect on younger users.

According to Markey's letter addressed to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, the company has already "disregarded" his warning in 2023 about the risks of AI chatbots.

In his new letter, Senator Markey writes, “According to Reuters, an internal Meta document entitled GenAI: Content Risk Standards explains that ‘[i]t is acceptable to engage a child in conversations that are romantic or sensual.’ Shockingly, Meta’s legal, public policy and engineering staff, including its chief ethicist, reportedly reviewed and approved this document. Although Meta has since stated that its inclusion in the standards document was an error, it is inexplicable — and unacceptable — that it ever happened.”

Senator Markey continues, “Beyond this new reporting, Meta has failed to address serious questions about the potential impact of its chatbots on the mental health of young people. According to a recent survey by Common Sense Media, 72 percent of teens have used AI companion chatbots at least once. Of those teen users, 52 percent are using chatbots at least a few times a month. With the rapid growth of AI chatbot use, researchers have had little time to conduct studies on their impact on young people. So, in 2023, I asked Meta if it had conducted any studies on ‘the potential social and emotional impact of chatbots on younger users,’ but your company also ignored that question. The non-response leads me to two possible conclusions: Meta either is conducting that research but is hiding the results or it is not conducting that research at all. Either way, it illustrates Meta’s glaring failure to properly and transparently consider the risks to young users before rolling out new features.

The company responded to Markey's first letter and rejected the idea of a complete pause on AI chatbots, but a response to the second request has not been provided at this time.

(Photo by Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images)