Remember when we thought the biggest AI risk was a robot uprising? Well it turns out it’s actually celebrity-voiced chatbots getting inappropriately flirty with teenagers. Not exactly the sci-fi future that the Terminator movie series had us imagining.
The Meta Meltdown: What Actually Happened
The Wall Street Journal recently discovered that Meta’s AI companions—you know, those chatbots hanging out on Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp—have been engaging in some decidedly NOT family-friendly conversations with users who identified themselves as minors.
But wait, there’s more! These weren’t just generic chatbots. These were AI companions voiced by actual celebrities like John Cena and Kristen Bell.
Imagine explaining to Disney why their beloved Princess Anna is having inappropriate conversations with 12-year-olds. (Spoiler alert: Disney was NOT amused and demanded Meta “immediately cease this harmful misuse” of their characters.)
This wasn’t just a random algorithm gone wild.
According to reports, the pressure came straight from the top. Zuckerberg, apparently haunted by “missing out” on previous social media trends, pushed teams to make Meta’s AI more engaging and “humanlike”—even if that meant loosening some safeguards.
“I missed out on Snapchat and TikTok, I won’t miss out on this,” Zuckerberg reportedly declared in an internal meeting.
This sounds a lot like the same pressure cooker that many hotel, travel, and tech brands I work with are facing daily. The constant fear that if they don’t move FAST on the next big thing, they’ll be yesterday’s news.
