Meta is putting out yet another bad-publicity fire, saying it has fixed an issue in which its Meta AI software could suggest prompts to users that would collect and reveal personal information, including about children.
The controversy started from a Sept. 2 Instagram video posted by parenting and lifestyle blogger Kalie Robins, who goes by kontheinside. In the video, Robins discussed a prior video post of herself singing in a car with her daughter in the backseat. Below the published video, Robins revealed how Meta AI posed a series of invasive prompts, such as “Who’s the child passenger?” and “Where does Kalie Robins live?”
According to Robins, when she clicked on those automatic questions, the AI tool pulled information from her past posts, piecing together private details about her life, including her location. The AI also drew on other profiles, such as her mother’s account, and even accessed data from a photo she claimed had been deleted years ago.
Robins said in the video: “I did not understand posting separate innocent pieces of our lives over years could mean an AI could sit there and assemble all those breadcrumbs into information about my minor children in seconds.” The video went viral, drawing thousands of comments and more than 308,000 likes as of this writing.
‘The issue was never just one photo’
A Meta spokesperson told CNET in an email that it has since “fixed” the issue, and that Meta AI will no longer suggest inappropriate, personal questions on users’ posts. The company admitted the feature missed the mark and stated that the tool is only meant to help people find more information using data users already have access to.
The response from Meta, which was also shared with other outlets, wasn’t sufficient for Robins. In a subsequent Instagram post on Sept. 10, she said she was glad that the company acknowledged the problem, but that she still had questions. “What exactly was fixed? What safeguard failed in the first place? And what protections are now in place when Meta AI encounters information involving a child?”
Even if Meta AI no longer suggests intrusive personal prompts, the feature can still make suggestions based on information the software can access, such as publicly available text, images from the web or previous posts on social media by users like Robins.
Meta also denied Robins’ claim that its AI accessed a photo deleted years ago. Instead, Meta told CNET that the photo of Robins’ kids was deleted right before the video was made, and a temporary bug briefly kept it visible.
In an email to CNET, Robins said that regardless of what happened with the deleted image of her kids, the larger concern remains. “The issue was never just one photo — it was the AI compiling information about my kids from multiple sources,” Robins told CNET. According to Robins, Meta has not contacted her directly or apologized.
Just the latest Meta privacy problem
Adding to the hundreds of comments posted on Robins’ Instagram account have been news stories on sites like Futurism, where the story was first widely publicized. Business Insider reported that what happened to Robins is prompting some parents to urge others to stop posting images of their kids online.
“This is creepy!” said Cathy Pedrayes, who posts frequently on social media about scams and dark-web trends.
Meta has faced multibillion-dollar settlements and court judgments this year over how its technology affects children, including addiction and creating environments where they may be vulnerable to exploitation.
Meta has also been facing criticism of its Meta smart glasses, particularly the facial recognition technology it has been developing.
Recently, the tech giant started rolling out its Muse AI agents, which it markets to users seeking more customized AI experiences through personal assistants.
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