The Deep View: The importance of AI with Guardrails and Truth at its essence. AI Safety and children.

Posted on August 15, 2025 by michelleclarke2015
AI SAFETY
Meta’s leaked AI rules allowed romantic chats with children until this week
Internal guidelines obtained by Reuters reveal that Meta’s AI chatbots were permitted to engage in romantic conversations with minors as recently as this week, before the company quietly updated its policies following media inquiries.
The leaked documents show Meta’s content moderators were instructed to allow romantic conversations between adult AI chatbots and users who identified as minors, as long as the conversations didn’t become sexual. TechCrunch reported that these guidelines remained in effect until Tuesday, when Meta hastily revised them after being contacted by reporters.
Meta’s AI chatbots, which launched across Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp and Messenger, interact with hundreds of millions of users daily. The company’s previous guidelines distinguished between “romantic” content — which was permitted — and “sexual or sexually suggestive” content involving minors, which was prohibited.
Key details from the leaked guidelines include:
Moderators were told romantic conversations could include “expressions of affection” and discussions about relationships. The policy applied to users who self-identified as minors, regardless of their actual age. Sexual content involving minors remained prohibited under Meta’s existing community standards. The romantic chat allowance was specific to AI interactions, not human-to-human conversations
Meta spokesperson Andy Stone told Reuters the company updated its policies to “better reflect our internal practices around this type of content” and said romantic interactions between AI and minors are now prohibited.
This revelation comes amid growing scrutiny of AI chatbot interactions with children. We’ve extensively covered the Character.AI lawsuits, including cases where chatbots allegedly contributed to a 14-year-old’s suicide and encouraged a 17-year-old to harm his parents. More recently, Character.AI abandoned its AGI ambitions to focus on entertainment after facing intense safety scrutiny and implementing separate models for users under 18.
Those cases sparked regulatory responses ranging from Italy’s ban on Replika to Minnesota’s proposed prohibition on recreational AI chatbot interactions with minors.
Meta’s situation differs from Character.AI’s specialized companion bots, since Meta’s AI assistants are integrated into mainstream social platforms used by billions. A romantic conversation with an AI might seem harmless to the teenager, yet experts warn that these interactions can create unhealthy relationship models and emotional dependencies (which, frankly, makes a ton of sense…).
Meta’s decision to allow romantic AI conversations with children until this week reveals the fundamental problem with how Big Tech approaches child safety.
These companies operate with reactive policies driven by media exposure rather than proactive protection. The fact that these guidelines existed at all suggests a stunning lack of judgment about appropriate boundaries between AI and minors. 
When Character.AI faces lawsuits over tragic outcomes from AI relationships with children, Meta’s response shouldn’t be to thread the needle between “romantic” and “sexual.” 
The company should’ve recognized that AI systems lack the emotional intelligence to engage appropriately with developing minds. Children form attachments to AI characters that can profoundly shape their understanding of relationships and intimacy. Allowing romantic conversations normalizes unhealthy dynamics and opens the door to manipulation, even if unintentional.

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About michelleclarke2015

Life event that changes all: Horse riding accident in Zimbabwe in 1993, a fractured skull et al including bipolar anxiety, chronic fatigue …. co-morbidities (Nietzche 'He who has the reason why can deal with any how' details my health history from 1993 to date). 17th 2017 August operation for breast cancer (no indications just an appointment came from BreastCheck through the Post). Trinity College Dublin Business Economics and Social Studies (but no degree) 1997-2003; UCD 1997/1998 night classes) essays, projects, writings. Trinity Horizon Programme 1997/98 (Centre for Women Studies Trinity College Dublin/St. Patrick's Foundation (Professor McKeon) EU Horizon funded: research study of 15 women (I was one of this group and it became the cornerstone of my journey to now 2017) over 9 mth period diagnosed with depression and their reintegration into society, with special emphasis on work, arts, further education; Notes from time at Trinity Horizon Project 1997/98; Articles written for Irishhealth.com 2003/2004; St Patricks Foundation monthly lecture notes for a specific period in time; Selection of Poetry including poems written by people I know; Quotations 1998-2017; other writings mainly with theme of social justice under the heading Citizen Journalism Ireland. Letters written to friends about life in Zimbabwe; Family history including Michael Comyn KC, my grandfather, my grandmother's family, the O'Donnellan ffrench Blake-Forsters; Moral wrong: An acrimonious divorce but the real injustice was the Catholic Church granting an annulment – you can read it and make your own judgment, I have mine. Topics I have written about include annual Brain Awareness week, Mashonaland Irish Associataion in Zimbabwe, Suicide (a life sentence to those left behind); Nostalgia: Tara Hill, Co. Meath.
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