Meta expects social media to be filled by AI-generated characters in the coming years. In doing so, the company hopes to increase user engagement.
Meta, the company behind Facebook, predicts that there will soon be more and more AI-generated profiles on social media. That is why it is rolling out tools such as AI Studio that allow users to create AI profiles on Facebook and Instagram.
AI: great opportunity or great 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 vice president genAI Connor Hayes at Meta. They can create and share content like human users do. Hundreds of thousands of characters have already been created since the tool launched in the U.S., though 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 from 2023 due to controversy. NBC News knows this. Marginalized groups were allegedly depicted in an offensive manner.
A Meta spokesperson explains, “There is confusion about the article in the Financial Times. That was about our vision for AI characters that would exist on our platforms over time, and not the announcement of a new product … The accounts referred to were managed 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 lets AI assistants answer questions from their followers. A video generation tool will be released next year that allows creators to insert themselves into AI-generated videos. Meta wants to prevent any risks such as AI spreading misinformation by clearly labeling all AI content.
Meta is not the only one betting on generative AI, Financial Times knows. Snapchat introduced tools for 3D characters in augmented reality, while TikTok is testing AI tools for creating ads. The future of AI on social media depends on how companies strike a balance between innovating and acting ethically.