Meta's chatbot claims Mark Zuckerberg exploits users to make money

Facebook-parent Meta's new chatbot claimed that Mark Zuckerberg takes advantage of its users for profit.

The chatbot — that uses artificial intelligence (AI) — can chat on any topic, said Meta.

Upon being asked its views on the company's CEO and founder, the chatbot said that "our country is divided and he didn't help that at all".

The chatbot is a prototype and may give rude or offensive answers, Meta said.

"Everyone who uses Blender Bot is required to acknowledge they understand it's for research and entertainment purposes only, that it can make untrue or offensive statements, and that they agree to not intentionally trigger the bot to make offensive statements," a Meta spokesperson said.

The chatbot was released to the public on Friday and is named as BlenderBot 3.

The chatbot, talking about Zuckerberg, told BBC: "He did a terrible job at testifying before congress. It makes me concerned about our country."

Zuckerberg was questioned many times by US politicians, mostly in 2018.

The chatbot continued to talk about the country being divided.

"His company exploits people for money and he doesn't care. It needs to stop!" it added.

Meta, which owns Facebook, Facebook Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp, has been censured for not doing much to stop the spread of disinformation and hate speech on its platform.

Last year, the company was accused by a former employee of prioritising profits over online safety. The chatbot's answers are likely based on people's views on Zuckerberg as its algorithm searches the internet to form its answers.

According to a Business Insider journalist, BlenderBot 3 called Zuckerberg "creepy".

The reason why the chatbot has been made public is to collect data.

"Allowing an AI system to interact with people in the real world leads to longer, more diverse conversations, as well as more varied feedback," Meta said.

Chatbots tend to learn people's behaviours after interacting with them.