Facebook and Instagram introduce AI bot ‘user’ accounts

The news: Meta plans to roll out generative AI (genAI) characters on Facebook and Instagram this year in an effort to boost user engagement.

• Users can create the characters, which will have their own bios and profile pictures and can share and create their own content.
• Meta didn’t clarify how AI character accounts will be labeled, how it will track the accounts, and if there’s a limit to how many characters a single human user can create.

How it’ll work: The changes are part of Meta’s push to make its apps more engaging and its AI offerings more social, according to Meta vice president of product for generative AI Connor Hayes, per Financial Times.

• Hayes said that Meta expects the AI characters to eventually exist on its platforms just like human accounts.
• The AI character offering builds on an existing tool launched in July, which lets users make their own chatbots.

Hundreds of thousands of AI characters have been created already, according to Hayes, though most are kept private.

These AI offerings follow Instagram’s introduction of AI chatbots in September using voices of celebrities such as Awkwafina, Kristen Bell, and John Cena.

But is there a market? While AI chatbots are growing in popularity, consumers may default to dedicated services such as ChatGPT or Claude when looking to use a chatbot.

Only 29% of adults ages 18 to 24 use an AI chatbot, per Experian Data Quality.

The risks: GenAI models are prone to misinformation, and flooding social feeds with AI-generated content could amplify this problem.

• While most AI models contain guardrails against hateful or violent outputs, an influx of human-like AI accounts could increase inaccurate or harmful posts. Strong guardrails could help reduce negative content by AI characters.
• Meta recently acknowledged problems with over-enforced content filters and is adjusting its approach to content moderation.

Our take: If Meta’s platforms become overrun by AI bots, users may leave for other social media services.

Meta should also focus on keeping its human content creators engaged—by offering more revenue-sharing programs or options to maximize their algorithm presence—to prevent them from feeling sidelined by AI.

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