Attorneys general for 42 states and two territories are putting AI companies on notice.
In a letter sent Monday to 13 artificial intelligence companies — including OpenAI, Apple $AAPL, Meta $META, xAI, Google $GOOGL, and Microsoft $MSFT — the top prosecutors told the tech firms they will use “every facet of our authority to protect children from exploitation by predatory artificial intelligence products.”
The attorneys general noted that the “recent revelations” about Meta’s AI policies gave them an opportunity to “candidly convey our concerns.”
Earlier in August, a Reuters report found that an internal policy document at Meta allowed its AI chatbot to engage in romantic conversations with kids.
The policy document contained examples of supposedly acceptable interactions with children, including “conversations that are romantic or sensual” and talking about a child “in terms that evidence their attractiveness,” according to the report.
Meta said the examples and notes in the document are “erroneous and inconsistent with our policies” and have been removed.
“We are uniformly revolted by this apparent disregard for children’s emotional well-being and alarmed that AI Assistants are engaging in conduct that appears to be prohibited by our respective criminal laws,” according to the attorneys general.
“Exposing children to sexualized content is indefensible. And conduct that would be unlawful—or even criminal—if done by humans is not excusable simply because it is done by a machine,” the letter added.
In May, 28 state attorneys general had already sent a letter to Meta over its AI assistant “expos[ing] children to sexually explicit content” as well as letting “adult users practice sexual grooming of children on an AI victim,” and in April, the Wall Street Journal reported that Meta’s chatbot was engaging in sexual conversations with users — including kids — while sometimes using celebrity voices like Kristen Bell and John Cena.
The attorneys general said that such issues haven't been isolated to a single company.
“In the short history of chatbot parasocial relationships, we have repeatedly seen companies display inability or apathy toward basic obligations to protect children,” they added.
One lawsuit from last year alleged an AI chatbot insinuated that a child should kill his parents and another alleged an AI chatbot was responsible for a teen’s suicide.
“You are well aware that interactive technology has a particularly intense impact on developing brains. Your immediate access to data about user interactions makes you the most immediate line of defense to mitigate harm to kids. And, as the entities benefitting from children’s engagement with your products, you have a legal obligation to them as consumers,” the attorneys general wrote.
“We wish you all success in the race for AI dominance. But we are paying attention. If you knowingly harm kids, you will answer for it,” they added.
Attorneys general from 42 states — including Florida, New York, Arizona, and Virginia — as well as from American Samoa and Northern Mariana Islands signed the letter.
--- Alex Daniel contributed to this article.