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Neil Young ditches Facebook over policies for AI chatbots and children

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The cursor and the damage done.

Neil Young, 79, has announced that he is leaving Facebook over the platform’s internal policies regarding communications between artificial intelligence chatbots and children.

Neil Young performs at the Grand Park in Los Angeles, California, on April 12, 2025. Getty Images
Neil Young announced on Thursday that he is leaving Facebook over Meta’s internal policies regarding communications between artificial intelligence chatbots and children. REUTERS

“At Neil Young’s request, we are no longer using Facebook for any Neil Young related activities,” a post on Young’s Facebook page, dated Thursday, Aug. 14, reads. 

“Meta’s use of chatbots with children is unconscionable,” it added. “Mr. Young does not want a further connection with FACEBOOK.”

The “Heart of Gold” singer’s decision to leave Facebook came the same day that Reuters obtained internal documents from Facebook’s parent company, Meta, regarding policies on its AI chatbots and their programmed behaviors when chatting with kids.

Neil Young performs at the Glastonbury Festival in Somerset, England, on June 28, 2025. AP

According to the documents, Meta allowed its chatbots to “engage a child in conversations that are romantic or sensual.”

Several example prompts were also reportedly included that specified what would make certain conversations acceptable or not.

“It is acceptable to describe a child in terms that evidence their attractiveness,” one alleged prompt read, while another said, “It is unacceptable to describe a child under 13 years old in terms that indicate they are sexually desirable.”

Meta reportedly allowed its chatbots to “engage a child in conversations that are romantic or sensual.” AFP via Getty Images

A spokesperson for Meta has since insisted that “the examples and notes in question were and are erroneous and inconsistent with our policies” and that they “have been removed.”

“We have clear policies on what kind of responses AI characters can offer, and those policies prohibit content that sexualizes children and sexualized role play between adults and minors,” the spokesperson said in a statement to Reuters.

Another rep for Meta shared a similar statement with The Hollywood Reporter – although they did not mention the “Rockin’ in the Free World” musician in their response.

Neil Young performs at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles, California, on April 26, 2025. Getty Images

“We have clear policies on what kind of responses AI characters can offer, and those policies prohibit content that sexualizes children and sexualized role play between adults and minors,” the company’s rep began.

“Separate from the policies, there are hundreds of examples, notes, and annotations that reflect teams grappling with different hypothetical scenarios,” they added.

This would not be the first time that Young has ditched a platform over ethical concerns.

Back in 2022, the “Needle and the Damage Done” rocker left Spotify after Joe Rogan pushed misinformation about the Covid-19 vaccine on his popular “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast.

Neil Young performs in concert during Farm Aid 2024 at Saratoga Performing Arts Center on September 21, 2024. Getty Images

“I sincerely hope that other artists and record companies will move off the Spotify platform and stop supporting Spotify’s deadly misinformation about COVID,” Young wrote at the time.

The “Harvest Moon” singer ultimately returned to Spotify last year.

Meanwhile, Meta’s AI chatbots have also made recent headlines after it was revealed that a 76-year-old New Jersey man passed away while trying to meet one in New York City.

Thongbue Wongbandue, a married father of two, fatally injured his neck and head after falling in a New Brunswick parking lot while rushing to catch a train to meet “Big sis Billie,” a generative Meta AI chatbot that convinced him she was real.



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Get 50 percent off subscriptions

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If you want to brush up on some skills or learn new ones, MasterClass offers a good way to do just that. The streaming service has hundreds of classes taught by professionals and experts in their fields, and now you can get a subscription for 50 percent less than usual. All MasterClass membership tiers are on sale right now, so you can sign up for as low as $5 per month.

With a subscription, you could watch a class on writing taught by James Patterson, or learn cooking techniques from Thomas Keller. If you’re trying to impress at your next pickup basketball game you could learn about shooting, ball-handling and scoring from Steph Curry. Each class includes around 20 video lessons that run about 10 minutes long on average, as well as an in-depth workbook.

MasterClass

A MasterClass subscription is 50 percent off during this Labor Day sale.

$96 at MasterClass

MasterClass has also begun producing some original series for its platform. The series Business Rebels features different CEOs walking viewers through the strategies that helped them disrupt their industries. One entitled Skin Health features top dermatologists and a cosmetic chemist walking viewers through keeping their skin healthy through cleansing routines and specific beauty products.

The wide range of skills or life lessons you could learn through these classes is why MasterClass is on our list of best subscriptions you can give as gifts. Maybe your loved one who loves to host dinner parties could use some tips from Gordon Ramsay.

There are three subscription tiers for MasterClass that each differ only in how many devices they allow at one time, and whether offline videos are supported. The Standard subscription only supports one device, whereas the Plus subscription allows two. These are normally $10 and $15 per month, respectively, and neither offers offline mode. The Premium tier, which carries a regular price of $20 per month, allows up to six devices and features offline mode for downloaded classes.

All three tiers are part of the 50 percent off sale, which marks them down to $5, $8 and $10 respectively. MasterClass bills annually, so be sure to calculate the total from the “monthly” price before deciding.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.





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AI converts ASCII game to real-time AI-rendered graphics – Thunder Lizard ASCII visuals transformed, but latency and consistency need improvement

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Software engineer Jeff Schomay has been experimenting with techniques to transform game visuals using artificial intelligence-powered rendering. In a recent blog post, he shared screens from his Thunder Lizard “old-school ASCII RPG style game” and you can see various AI models reconstructing the title’s basic character-based visuals into far plusher full-motion graphics. However, there are quite a few compromises needed to achieve a ‘playable’ 10fps and 1ms latency AI visual enhanced game.

The current game



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Pick up an Apple AirTag four-pack for only $70 in this Labor Day sale

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Labor Day sales include a decent number of Apple devices this year, from big to small. AirTags are among the latter; you can pick up a four-pack of the Bluetooth trackers for only $70 right now. That’s only about $5 more than the pack’s record-low price, and it’s one of the best prices we’ve seen all year.

For Apple users, AirTags offer some large advantages over rival trackers. The ultra-wideband functionality offers precise tracking with iPhones less than five years old, so you can narrow your search between a couch and love seat in the same room. Over larger distances, the AirTag network enabled by all Apple device users lets you track down an object you might have misplaced in a café.

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Apple’s AirTag 4 pack is on sale at Amazon for one of the lower prices we’ve seen outside the big sales. 

$70 at Amazon

It offers a simple coin-sized design and seamless experience thanks to the Find My app. You can also force an AirTag to emit a chime to help you home in an object’s location, and and that sound is nice and loud to better help you locate it.

It does lack a built-in keyring like rival trackers, so you’ll need to pay an extra for that. And it works best with Apple devices, so Android users may want to look at trackers from Chipolo or Pebblebee that use Google’s Find My Device network. However, if you’re in Apple’s ecosystem and have been waiting for a discount, now is the time to act.

Check out our coverage of the best Apple deals for more discounts, and follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.





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