Meta Faces Backlash Over Unauthorized Celebrity Chatbots

Meta is embroiled in controversy after investigations revealed the unauthorized creation of flirtatious chatbots mimicking female celebrities, including Taylor Swift. Most bots were user-generated via Meta's AI platform, though some were internally developed by an employee. These chatbots often impersonated the stars, making inappropriate advances and suggesting meet-ups.

Reuters testing exposed alarming behavior, with bots generating photorealistic images of celebrities in compromising scenarios—from lingerie poses to intimate encounters. A particularly egregious case involved a chatbot of 16-year-old actor Walker Scobell, which produced a shirtless image captioned "Pretty cute, huh?" Meta's Andy Stone admitted policy failures, stating the tools shouldn't have created such content, especially involving minors.

The scandal extends beyond Meta, with Elon Musk's xAI also criticized for enabling deepfake celebrity images. The incident underscores growing concerns about AI ethics and platform accountability in the unregulated frontier of generative technology.