The revelations have intensified bi-partisan scrutiny of the Mark Zuckerberg-owned, tech giant's safety protocols.

The standards also allow the bots to make "statements that demean people on the basis of their protected characteristics," such as "black people are dumber than white people."

A Meta document on its AI chatbot policies included some alarming examples of permitted behavior. Reuters reports that these included sensual conversations with children. Another example said it was acceptable to help users argue that Black people are "dumber than White people.