By Jody Godoy
(Reuters) -U.S. Senator Josh Hawley launched a probe into Facebook parent Meta Platforms' artificial intelligence policies on Friday, demanding documents on rules that had allowed its artificial intelligence chatbots to “engage a child in conversations that are romantic or sensual.”
Both Democrats and Republicans in Congress have expressed alarm over the rules outlined in an internal Meta document first reported by Reuters on Thursday.
Hawley, a Republican from Missouri, chairs the Senate
subcommittee on crime and counterterrorism, which will investigate "whether Meta’s generative-AI products enable exploitation, deception, or other criminal harms to children, and whether Meta misled the public or regulators about its safeguards," he said in a letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
"We intend to learn who approved these policies, how long they were in effect, and what Meta has done to stop this conduct going forward," Hawley said.
Meta declined to comment on Hawley's letter on Friday. The company said previously that "the examples and notes in question were and are erroneous and inconsistent with our policies, and have been removed.”
In addition to documents outlining those changes and who authorized them, Hawley sought earlier drafts of the policies along with internal risk reports, including on minors and in-person meetups. Reuters reported on Thursday about a retired man who died while traveling to New York on the invitation of a Meta chatbot.
Meta must also disclose what it has told regulators about its generative AI protections for young users or limits on medical advice, according to Hawley's letter.
Hawley has often criticized Big Tech. He held a hearing in April on Meta's alleged attempts to gain access to the Chinese market which were referenced in a book by former Facebook executive Sarah Wynn-Williams.
(Reporting by Jody Godoy in New York; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama )
