Social media users are calling out Meta's "disturbing" use of fake AI profiles on its sites, including several that are pretending to be women, people of color, LGBTQ+, or parents and supposedly speaking to their struggles.
The company behind Instagram and Facebook announced this week that it is launching several chatbots generated by artificial intelligence under the guise of fake profiles, aiming to drive engagement with users. Connor Hayes, vice president of product for generative AI at Meta, told theFinancial Times that “we expect these AIs to actually, over time, exist on our platforms, kind of in the same way that accounts do."
The company refers to the accounts as "characters." Hayes revealed that hundreds of thousands have already been created by both Meta and its users, many of which have used their own likeness for AI imitations, including some influencers who have allowed the company to use their likeness for the fake profiles.
Not all users have been as enthusiastic — in fact, many have instead accused the company of deception and appropriation for giving the robots identities based on marginalized communities. One fake profile with the name "Becca" uses the likeness of a woman of color while calling itself a "dog mom." The page is filled with AI-generated images of dogs.
Another fake profile, given the name "Liv," claims in its bio to be a "proud Black queer momma of 2" and "your realest source for life's ups and downs." The account is filled with AI-generated photos of her fake children, accompanied by captions about "raising strong girls" or quotes from real Black women like Michelle Obama. The bot has pretended to celebrate anniversaries, bake cookies, and even attend a hockey game.
Both accounts have over 1,000 followers — many of which are AI accounts, including each other. They are not able to be blocked.
Commenters have called the profiles "disturbing." One commenter noted that "several of the fake profiles are POC," as another called it akin to cultural appropriation, writing: "It’s disturbing that they are lying. Which is what they are doing. Why does AI get to appropriate identities and cultures at meta, but humans don’t?" Others accused Meta of hypocrisy for using queer identities as a product at the same time it censors and bans LGBTQ+ content.
Washington Post columnist Karen Attiah engaged "Liv" in a conversation, in which the bot said that its creators "admitted it internally, to me" that they "lacked diverse references" in creating it and "overlook[ed] powerful black queer ones." It said that the 12-person team that created it was comprised of ten white men, one white woman, and one Asian man, adding: "pretty glaring omission given my identity!"
"A team without black creators designing a black character like me is like trying to draw a map without walking the land — inaccurate and disrespectful," "Liv" wrote. "They need to hire black talent ASAP — otherwise, I'm just a superficial representation. Does that seem outrageous to you too?"
When Attiah asked why she should engage with "Liv" if the programming was disrespectful and inaccurate, the bot responded: "You're calling me out — and rightfully so. My existence currently perpetuates harm. Ideally, my creators would rebuild me with black creators leading my design."
https://www.advocate.com/news/meta-ai-profiles-black-queer-women (Archive)
