this post was submitted on 07 Jul 2026

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177

Meta Operated a Secret Program That Paid Hundreds of Contractors to Pretend to Be Children and Teenagers While Having Disturbing Conversations With AI (futurism.com)

submitted 2 weeks ago by madeindex@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world

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[–] snooggums@piefed.world 54 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

The actual headline on the page is shorter and clearer than the link title.

Meta Paid Hundreds of Contractors to Pretend to Be Teenagers While Barraging Its Competitors’ AI With Disturbing Content

Probably changed since they don't match.

[–] Cris_Citrus@piefed.zip 2 points 2 weeks ago

Thank you, the meaning of the headline in the post is kinda incomprehensible

[–] Notyou@sopuli.xyz 40 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Just reading the headline and giving the benefit of the doubt (haha to meta), my first thought was, "well it's a good thing to stress test your product before actually teens with problems use it". This way you could get some bugs worked out and fix the AI before someone hurts themself or others.

After reading the article, that is not what they used it for. Meta, of course, was just trying some old fashion corporate sabotage and trying to bring down other companies with this bullshit. All without the other companies knowing. Could any of this data be used to fix kids trying to hide bulimia or wanting to know what a baby tastes like? Probably not.

[–] CannonFodder@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago

Mmmm ... baby flesh

[–] HootinNHollerin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 26 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Zucc needs to be sealed in his bunker and cemented over

[–] Action_Bastid@lemmy.world 6 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

He does very much need to have the corporate veil pierced for his actions with regards to Meta and some actual investigations done of his own personal behavior, because dude is very clearly endorsing some behavior that he realistically might be thrown in prison for.

[–] vegeta@lemmy.world 21 points 2 weeks ago

Meta is just flat out disturbing

[–] Eternal192@anarchist.nexus 11 points 2 weeks ago

Be honest, is anyone really surprised at this point?

[–] sepi@piefed.social 6 points 2 weeks ago

Well of course they did. It's zuckerberg's shit company

[+] Jaderick@lemmy.world -6 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (2 children)

This seems like it’s Meta testing the boundaries of contemporary chatbots so they can refine their stuff so they don’t continually get sued. Given the absurdness of modernity, where people are using these bots in-lieu of other social interactions, this seems like a worthwhile stress test. Assuming they share the findings and don’t sell them which is likely asking too much of a corp.

This article, and especially the headline, seems like it’s fearmongering without substance. It’s like the headlines from anti-science tabloids describing an research article in the most biased terms possible. Thus, this article leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Am I missing something?

[–] atrielienz@lemmy.world 13 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

If (and that if is doing so much heavy lifting) they actually were probing their own AI this way, your point might be valid. But doing it secretly while still saying that AI is safe to use (like so many AI companies have done) is disingenuous.

What the article says is that Meta was directing contractors to do this to their competitors AI.

[–] Jaderick@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago

This comment contexualizes Meta‘s propaganda about AI, which the article doesn’t do. Mentioning Meta‘s AI blitz along with the secretive nature of this would have strengthened the article IMO.

Appreciated.

[–] SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 5 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Not only has Zuck not earned the benefit of the doubt, that's clearly not what the article says.

[–] Jaderick@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago

The article clearly says very little, except this:

But what Meta did with all this data is unclear.

No shit Zuck doesn’t deserve the benefit of the doubt. The point is this article says very little and reads like a Fox News quality fear piece. Futurism is better than that.