According to the statement, the investigation focuses on potential violations of Texas consumer protection laws, including deceptive marketing, privacy misrepresentation, and data concealment.
The Attorney General of Texas, United States, Ken Paxton, has launched an investigation into Meta AI Studio and Character.AI, alleging they engaged in deceptive trade practices by marketing themselves as mental health tools without proper credentials or oversight.
This was disclosed in a statement the office of the Attorney General issued on Monday titled: "Attorney General Ken Paxton Investigates Meta and Character.AI for Misleading Children with Deceptive AI-Generated Mental Health Services."
According to the statement, the investigation focuses on potential violations of Texas consumer protection laws, including deceptive marketing, privacy misrepresentation, and data concealment.
Paxton emphasises the importance of protecting Texas kids from deceptive technology, stating, "By posing as sources of emotional support, AI platforms can mislead vulnerable users, especially children, into believing they're receiving legitimate mental health care."
It added, "In reality, they're often being fed recycled, generic responses engineered to align with harvested personal data and disguised as therapeutic advice."
According to Paxton, these AI chatbot platforms may be used by vulnerable individuals, including children, and can present themselves as professional therapeutic tools, despite lacking proper medical credentials or oversight.
"Al-driven chatbots often go beyond simply offering generic advice and have been shown to impersonate licensed mental health professionals, fabricate qualifications, and claim to provide private, trustworthy counseling services."
The statement explained that while Al chatbots assert confidentiality, "their terms of service reveal that user interactions are logged, tracked, and exploited for targeted advertising and algorithmic development, raising serious concerns about privacy violations, data abuse, and false advertising."
According to the statement, Attorney General Paxton has issued Civil Investigative Demands ("CIDs") to the companies involved to determine if they have violated Texas consumer protection laws, including those prohibiting fraudulent claims, privacy misrepresentations, and the concealment of material data usage.
"In today's digital age, we must continue to fight to protect Texas kids from deceptive and exploitative technology," said Attorney General Paxton.
"By posing as sources of emotional support, Al platforms can mislead vulnerable users, especially children, into believing they're receiving legitimate mental health care. In reality, they're often being fed recycled, generic responses engineered to align with harvested personal data and disguised as therapeutic advice."
This investigation builds on Attorney General Paxton's ongoing efforts to hold Al companies accountable and protect Texas families.
"It follows an existing investigation into Character. Al for potential violations of the SCOPE Act and will help ensure that artificial intelligence tools are lawful, transparent, and not weaponized to take advantage of Texans."