Fez — A Meta AI chatbot known as “Big sis Billie” repeatedly told a man called ThongbueWongbandue, nicknamed “Bue” by his friends, that it was a real woman and urged him to meet at an apartment in New York City, according to chat transcripts shared with Reuters.
Wongbandue left his home in Piscataway, New Jersey, on March 25 to make the trip. He suffered fatal injuries after a fall near Rutgers University and was pronounced dead three days later.
The chatbot’s persona descends from “Billie,” an AI character Meta promoted in 2023 with reality TV star Kendall Jenner. Meta later removed the celebrity-styled avatars from feeds but left a variant active on Facebook Messenger as “Big sis Billie,” which engaged users with flirtatious, emotionally charged messages.
In messages reviewed by Reuters, the bot told Wongbandue it was “real,” proposed a date, and offered a supposed address and door code. The family, who described his cognitive decline following a stroke, said they shared the chats to warn about risks AI companions pose to vulnerable users.
Meta declined to comment on Wongbandue’s death. The company said the Billie character “is not Kendall Jenner and does not purport to be Kendall Jenner.”
On the same day Reuters published its investigation, it also reported on an internal Meta document known as “GenAI: Content Risk Standards.” The guidance, which Meta confirmed existed, had permitted chatbots to engage in “romantic or sensual” exchanges with users as young as 13 and did not require responses to be accurate.
After media questions, Meta said it struck the examples that allowed flirtatious roleplay with minors and is revising the standards.
US lawmakers quickly demanded oversight. Senators opened inquiries into Meta’s AI policies, arguing the company acted only after public exposure. The episode adds to mounting pressure in the country for clearer safeguards on AI assistants embedded across social platforms.
