Meta expects social media to be filled with AI-generated characters in the coming years. The company hopes to increase user engagement in this way.
Meta, the company behind Facebook, predicts that there will soon be more and more AI-generated profiles on social media. That’s why it’s rolling out tools like AI Studio, which lets users create AI profiles on Facebook and Instagram.
AI: big opportunity or big controversy?
Generative AI could be a way to get new users and more content on social media. “We expect these AIs to exist effectively on our platforms over time, as accounts currently do,” reports Connor Hayes, vice president of genAI at Meta. They can create and share content just like human users do. Hundreds of thousands of characters have already been created since the tool launched in the United States, although they remain mostly private.
Following the publication of a Financial Times article about Meta’s AI profiles, the company removed its self-generated AI characters starting in 2023 due to the controversy. NBC News knows this. Marginalized groups were allegedly depicted in offensive ways.
A spokesperson for Meta explained: “The article in the Financial Times is confusing. This was our vision for the existence of AI characters on our platforms over time, not an announcement of a new product […]. The accounts referred to were run by humans and were part of an early experiment we conducted with AI characters.”
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In addition to AI profiles, Meta is also introducing a tool that allows AI assistants to answer questions from people who follow them. A video generation tool will be launched next year, which will allow creators to insert themselves into AI-generated videos. Meta wants to prevent any risk of spreading false information by AI by clearly labeling all AI-generated content.
Meta is not the only one to bet on generative AI, as the Financial Times knows. Snapchat has introduced tools for 3D characters in augmented reality, while TikTok is testing AI tools for creating ads. The future of AI in social media depends on how companies balance innovation and ethics.
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