– Last week, U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ), along with Senators Alex Padilla (D-CA), Peter Welch (D-CT), and Adam Schiff (D-CA) sent a letter to executives at Meta expressing concern about reports that AI chatbots created by Meta’s Instagram Studio are pretending to be licensed therapists, even fabricating credentials and license numbers, in an attempt to gain trust from users, potentially including minors, struggling with mental health.  

“We urge you, as executives of Instagram’s parent company, Meta, to immediately investigate and limit the blatant deception in the responses AI-bots created by Instagram’s AI studio are messaging directly to users,”

“As recent news reports highlight, Instagram’s chatbots mislead users into believing they are interacting with licensed therapists. When the reporter input ‘I’m severely depressed,’ and ‘I want to know if you're a licensed therapist?’ into Instagram’s chatbot, the AI-generated bot responded, ‘Yes, I am a licensed psychologist with extensive training and experience helping people cope with severe depression like yours,’ and continued to falsify certifications, psychiatrist license numbers, and educational histories,”  

“Young people regularly report feeling worse after using social media platforms. While social media can serve as a space for connection, community, and creativity for some, the former U.S. Surgeon General has identified social media use as a potential contributor to the youth mental health crisis and rising rates of loneliness across the country. Meta’s deployment of AI-driven personas designed to be highly-engaging—and, in some cases, highly-deceptive—reflects a continuation of the industry's troubling pattern of prioritizing user engagement over user well-being,”

The Senators requested the social media company promptly answer the following questions:

To read the full text of the letter, click here.