Robby Starbuck joins Meta as AI bias adviser after settlement
Meta just brought on Robby Starbuck—a well-known conservative activist—as its new AI bias adviser, following a lawsuit where Meta's chatbot wrongly linked him to the January 6 Capitol riot.
As part of their settlement, Starbuck will now help Meta tackle political and ideological bias in its AI tools and work on making them more accurate.
Starbuck's case highlights AI's potential harm
Starbuck's case put a spotlight on how AI can cause real-life harm through false accusations and biased outputs.
His appointment comes as Meta faces pressure to address "woke" bias, especially after Trump's 2025 executive order targeting political slant in tech.
This move is part of Meta's push to make its AI fairer and more accountable.
Starbuck's history with DEI programs
Starbuck is known for his campaigns against corporate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs—he's even pushed big companies like Harley-Davidson to rethink their policies.
He sued Meta after their AI repeatedly made false claims about him, leading to serious personal fallout.
Meta scales back its own DEI initiatives
Alongside hiring Starbuck, Meta has recently scaled back its own DEI initiatives.
All these changes show the company is trying to address concerns about fairness—and avoid future controversies around AI bias.