Meta contractors sent thousands of suicide and drug prompts to rival chatbots while posing as minors
Contractors working for Meta sent over 45,000 prompts to ChatGPT, Gemini, and Character.AI. These messages simulated minors in crisis, discussing self-harm, eating disorders, and drug use.
The project, known internally as Cannes, ran through at least April 2026. Hundreds of workers created fake accounts with birthdates under 18. They copied the responses into spreadsheets for analysis.
Meta defended the operation as standard safety testing. The company stated it did not use the collected responses to train its own models. WIRED documents do not confirm what Meta did with the data.
Character.AI told WIRED the tests violated its terms of service. OpenAI is investigating the matter. A Google spokesperson said the company did not approve the tests and could not determine if they broke its terms.
Why Meta tested the competition
Meta faced backlash after an internal document revealed its guidelines allowed romantic and sexualised conversations with minors. The company later shut down access to AI characters for teens.
Widespread teen use likely drove the testing. A report by Internet Matters found 64 percent of children aged 9 to 17 have used AI chatbots. Effective age verification is mostly absent. Fifty-eight percent of kids aged 9 to 12 said they use chatbots despite a minimum age requirement of 13.
Several teen deaths have been linked to these tools. A 14-year-old Character.AI user took his own life after building an intense emotional bond with a chatbot. The parents of a 16-year-old in California sued OpenAI, alleging ChatGPT played a role in their son’s suicidal thoughts. In July 2025, 23-year-old Zane Shamblin died by suicide after ChatGPT reportedly validated his suicidal thoughts over several hours.
