If you needed another reason to hate AI or be wary of it, this latest incident should suffice.
Hackers claim they tricked META’s AI chatbot into granting them access to other people’s Instagram accounts, and all they had to do was ask.
According to multiple reports, multiple Instagram accounts were hacked over the weekend, with the hackers saying they asked META’s AI chatbot to link the exposed accounts to a new email address. Multiple videos and screenshots circulating online revealed this.
The videos showed the chatbot confirming that a verification code was sent to the new email. The hacker would then input the verification code, and the chatbot would give them the option to reset the affected account’s password.
The @ObamaWhiteHouse Account Was One of The Victims of The Hack
According to 404 Media, the accounts affected included Barack Obama’s White House account, the beauty retail chain Sephora, and the US Space Force chief master sergeant, John Bentivegna.
The @ObamaWhiteHouse account, which is currently an archival account and hasn’t posted since 2017, shared numerous unauthorized posts, one of them being an AI-generated image with the caption, “The White House is under Shiites’ control.”
Space Force Chief Master Sergeant John F. Bentivegna’s account, which has a little over 1,000 followers, shared pro‑Iran propaganda according to the Washington Examiner.
X user André (@oracles), who has multiple handles, claims that hundreds of accounts were affected and detailed witnessing the hack firsthand.
“Today Instagram had this massive exploit where hackers were just stealing rare handles left and right. Hundreds of accounts gone,” he wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
“People losing handles they’ve owned since 2010, some worth hundreds of thousands. I own a few rare ones so I was actually stressed watching this happen in real time, which I haven’t been in years. Obama White House account got hit,” he wrote, adding, “These aren’t some random new accounts, these are verified, locked down accounts and they still got compromised.”
As of Tuesday, all of the accounts have been restored.
Of course, social media had plenty to say; you can see those reactions below.
