Hundreds of contractors working on a project for Meta pretended to be kids in order to see how other chatbots like Gemini and ChatGPT would respond to high-risk subjects, WIRED found.

Exposed records from the private group included the personal information of a senior White House intelligence official and an active-duty special operations officer.

The private events group, cofounded by Peter Thiel, says a “criminal” hacker is behind a breach that exposed members’ personal details. WIRED found no evidence a break-in was needed to access the files.

Leaked files show the invite-only network grades members by their money and fame, shaping who’s in, who’s out, and who pays.