A Utah mother expressed alarm after interacting with Meta AI, which she claims began revealing private details about her young daughters, including personal information, birth details, and previously deleted photographs. The incident, detailed by the mother, Kalie Robins, began after she posted a video of herself singing with one of her daughters on Facebook.
According to Robins' account, Meta AI suggested a question about the child in the video. Upon clicking the prompt, the AI reportedly began compiling information on both of her children, drawing from years of posts from family members. Robins stated the AI provided each child's name, birth information, and images, including a newborn photo that had been posted years prior by her mother. Robins also claimed the AI surfaced a photograph she had deleted years ago, asserting it had not been on her page for an extended period.
Furthermore, Robins reported that Meta AI suggested she ask, "Where does Kalie Robins live?" Clicking this prompt, she said, led the AI to gather information from various posts, displaying a message that indicated it was "Pinpointing Kalie Robins’ location." She felt this information pieced together her location based on past and present posts, despite the original video containing no location data.
Meta acknowledged the issue, stating that its AI can search a user's own content and publicly available web information. A company spokesperson told Futurism that the feature "missed the mark" by generating the questions shown to Robins. "We created this feature to help people get more information about topics or posts that interest them," Meta said. "When someone clicks on a prompt and uses this feature, the response it generates is based on information the user already has access to. But we missed the mark because the feature never should have prompted the individual with questions like that and we’ve fixed that issue."
Robins shared screenshots that she said showed Meta AI determining her daughters' ages from birthday posts and birth announcements, and even extracting details like a child's birth weight. She also claimed the AI revealed information about her daughters' interests, such as favorite beaches and books, and inferred their potential school grades based on their ages. Robins described feeling a growing sense of dread throughout the experience.
The New York Post reported it had sought comment from Meta regarding the incident.