An Instagram hack that saw attackers talk Meta's AI support chatbot into handing over access to high-profile accounts has exposed a critical flaw at the heart of the company's push to automate sensitive user functions.

You may have heard that some notable Instagram accounts were hacked over the weekend. Barack Obama's White House account was arguably the biggest among them. What you may not have heard is that the hackers didn't have to try very hard: Meta's AI customer support chatbot essentially handed the accounts over.

If a cybercriminal wants access to a high-profile Instagram account, it turns out all they have to do is ask. “Meta gave zero updates about the AI bot hacking incident until it got to the press,” Wong wrote on social media platform X,

Tomas Stamulis, the chief security officer at the cybersecurity company Surfshark, compared Meta's AI assistant to "an inexperienced employee."

Instagram says it has resolved an issue which saw hackers trick its AI support tool into giving them access to other users' accounts. According to claims shown in screenshots and videos shared on social media,

Hackers show they were able to send a basic text prompt to Meta's AI support bot in assisting them to reset the passwords and seize targeted Instagram accounts.

Back in December, Meta announced a new AI support assistant it promised would make the account recovery process "faster and simpler" for people who had been locked out of their Facebook or Instagram pages.

Meta AI loophole continues to allow hackers to hijack Instagram accounts. Reports claim Meta's fix failed to secure the backend.