Meta Settles AI Defamation Lawsuit with Conservative Activist Robby Starbuck

Meta settles with conservative activist over AI chatbot lawsuit

Meta Platforms settled a defamation lawsuit with Robby Starbuck, who claimed that Meta's artificial intelligence (AI) falsely accused him of participating in the Jan. 6 Capitol riots. There is no publicly available information on the details of the settlement except that Robby Starbuck, a conservative activist opposed to diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, will work with Meta to remove "ideological and political bias" from the company's AI. "Both parties have resolved this matter to our mutual satisfaction. Since engaging on these important issues with Robby, Meta has made tremendous strides to improve the accuracy of Meta AI and mitigate ideological and political bias," a joint statement from Meta and Starbuck reads. "Building on that work, Meta and Robby Starbuck will work collaboratively in the coming months to continue to find ways to address issues of ideological and political bias and minimize the risk that the model returns hallucinations in response to user queries," he added. Meta did not immediately respond to The Hill's request for comment. Starbuck on Friday told CNBC's "Squawk Box" that both himself and Meta saw that this problem could impact other users of the company's platforms. "That was always the point of my lawsuit -- is fix this for everybody so this doesn't become a massive, you know, really terrible story in the future where AI affects elections in ways that no one is comfortable with," he said. Starbuck dodged a question from host Andrew Ross Sorkin about the settlement, stating that he is still figuring out the details of the collaboration with the tech giant. "Delivering fairness for consumers is the outcome I've always wanted and I'm pleased to do the work to make that a reality," Starbuck wrote on social media. "As we move into a future where AI dominates many parts of our world, now you know that you have an unshakable voice at the table to advocate for ideological fairness." Starbuck filed the suit against Meta on April 29 and originally demanded more than $5 million from the company. On April 30, Joel Kaplan, Meta's chief global affairs officer, apologized publicly over the matter. "Robby - I watched your video - this is unacceptable. This is clearly not how our AI should operate. We're sorry for the results it shared about you and that the fix we put in place didn't address the underlying problem," he posted on the social media platform X.

Anti-DEI activist Robby Starbuck settles lawsuit over Meta on AI...

Conservative firebrand Robby Starbuck and Meta have agreed to a settlement after he sued the company alleging its AI chatbot defamed him. As part of the settlement, Starbuck will serve as a consultant to Meta, working with its Product Policy team to bolster their existing efforts to combat political bias in its AI models and reduce the risk of "hallucinations" - made-up information - generated by the chatbot. "Both parties have resolved this matter to our mutual satisfaction. Since engaging on these important issues with Robby, Meta has made tremendous strides to improve the accuracy of Meta AI and mitigate ideological and political bias. Building on that work, Meta and Robby Starbuck will work collaboratively in the coming months to continue to find ways to address issues of ideological and political bias and minimize the risk that the model returns hallucinations in response to user queries," Meta and Starbuck said in a joint statement. "I'm extraordinarily pleased with how Meta and I resolved this issue. Resolving this is going to result in big wins that I believe will set an example for ethical AI across the industry. I look forward to continuing our engagement as a voice for conservatives to ensure that we're always treated fairly by AI," Starbuck told Fox News Digital. Starbuck filed suit in Delaware Superior Court against Meta in April after its chatbot allegedly falsely accused him of being a "White nationalist" who was arrested on Jan. 6 and claimed he had been sued for defamation. The chatbot allegedly recommended that the right-wing influencer lose custody of his children, saying he was a danger to them. The anti-DEI activist was first made aware of the AI chatbot's smears against him in August 2024, when an X user posted several instances of Meta AI spreading misinformation about him online. The chatbot falsely claimed Starbuck was present at the Jan. 6 riot, was linked to the Q-Anon conspiracy, and was anti-vaccine. Starbuck proceeded to investigate for himself whether Meta AI was spreading lies about him and uncovered additional falsehoods from the chatbot. He decided to file a lawsuit but not before he tried to resolve the issue with Meta. Woke bias has been a concern across multiple AI platforms produced by different companies. Google Gemini faced backlash after its platform claimed that Memorial Day is a controversial holiday, and generated racially inaccurate images of historical figures. ChatGPT, the chatbot pioneered by OpenAI, had previously been found to refuse requests to praise Donald Trump, but would accept requests to praise Kamala Harris or Joe Biden. OpenAI subsequently implemented programs designed to combat bias in its models. Meta claimed that addressing political bias in its AI models has been a longstanding goal for the company. "It's well-known that all leading LLMs have had issues with bias -- specifically, they historically have leaned left when it comes to debated political and social topics. This is due to the types of training data available on the internet, our goal is to remove bias from our AI models and to make sure that Llama can understand and articulate both sides of a contentious issue." Meta wrote on their blog in April. The conservative activist told Fox News Digital he intends to use his new role with Meta to ensure that no American of any political stripe is subject to ideological bias. He's optimistic that his work with Meta will resonate across the AI industry as it continues to become an increasing presence in Americans' daily lives. "I think a tech leader like Meta working with me is a critically important step to producing a product that's fair to everyone. I think what we do to improve AI training could become an industry standard and I also think we'll set an example for the entire industry when it comes to ensuring fairness. I'm laser focused on that and ensuring that the highest quality training materials are used," Starbuck told Fox News Digital. Meta has attempted to address areas of perceived anti-conservative bias within its company since President Donald Trump returned to office. In January, the social media behemoth announced it was ending its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion policies. The company also brought on former Republican political consultant Joel Kaplan, who worked as deputy chief of staff in the George W. Bush administration, to serve as its chief global affairs officer. Kaplan told Fox News Digital in January that eliminating DEI would ensure the company builds teams with "the most talented people."