A mum who posted a casual video of her daughter singing in the car says she was left horrified after Meta AI appeared to surface an old photo she believed she had deleted and piece together information about where her family lived.
Kalie Robins, who posts on Instagram as @kontheinside, has since urged parents to think carefully before sharing identifiable images of their children online. Her video has gone viral, attracting more than 5.6 million views, according to The Sun.
'Who's the Child Passenger?'
Robins said she uploaded a video of herself and her daughter singing in the car.
Facebook then displayed a suggested Meta AI question beneath the post: 'Who's the child passenger?'
'First of all, why in the hell is that even a suggested question about a minor?' Robins said.
She clicked the prompt and said the AI began returning information about her children, including their names, birth details, photos and videos.
The Mary Sue reported similar details from Robins' video, including her claim that Meta AI surfaced a newborn photo of her daughter that had been posted years earlier by her mother.
'I Deleted This Picture Years Ago'
Robins said she was particularly disturbed when another photo appeared that she believed she had deleted years earlier.
'I deleted this picture years ago,' she said. 'I'm not going to pretend that I know how it works, but I know this picture has not been sitting on my page for years.'
Robins said she could not explain how the image had appeared, acknowledging that she did not understand the technology behind what she was seeing.
The Sun similarly reported that Robins said the technology produced a picture she claimed to have deleted.
AI Appeared to Piece Together Her Location
Robins said the experience became even more alarming when Meta AI suggested another question: 'Where does Kalie Robins live?'
'Are you f***ing kidding me?' she said.
According to Robins, she clicked the prompt and watched as the system connected older posts about places she had lived with newer information about where she lives now. 'It pieced together my information to show people where I live,' she said, adding that there was no location information attached to the original reel.
Yahoo Tech reported that Robins said the AI also surfaced information about her children that could potentially lead someone to their school, although the publication did not disclose those details.
Meta Says the Issue Has Been Fixed
The incident prompted Robins to rethink what she shares about her children.
'I didn't ask Facebook to build a profile of my family,' she said. 'I posted a video of me singing in the car with my kids.'
Robins acknowledged that she had chosen to post her children online. 'You're right. I did,' she said.
She said she now plans to remove identifiable photos and videos of her children and ask relatives and friends to do the same.
'I knew I was posting my kids online. I did NOT know I was handing AI pieces it could assemble like THIS,' she wrote in her Instagram caption.
Meta has since responded to the controversy. A spokesperson told Yahoo Tech that the feature was designed to help people get more information about posts, with responses based on information the user already has access to.
However, Meta acknowledged that Robins should not have received the prompts and said the issue had been fixed.
For Robins, the experience has become a warning to other parents.
'Yesterday I was you. I posted my kids,' she said. 'I'm telling you because if you post your children online, I think you deserve to know that this can happen.'
