Meta Expects AI Characters to Generate and Share Social Media Content

Meta reportedly expects to see artificial intelligence (AI) characters generating content on its social media platforms Instagram and Facebook.

These AI characters will exist alongside existing accounts on the platforms, Connor Hayes, vice president of product for generative AI at Meta, told the Financial Times (FT) in an article posted Thursday (Dec. 26).

“They’ll have bios and profile pictures and be able to generate and share content powered by AI on the platform … that’s where we see all of this going,” Hayes said in the report.

Hundreds of thousands of AI characters have already been created using a tool that Meta launched in the U.S. in July and plans to expand in the future, though most of these characters are currently being kept private by users, according to the report.

While some observers warn that AI-generated content could be misused — for uses such as spreading misinformation — or erode users’ confidence in the content they see, Meta’s rules say that AI-generated content should be clearly labeled, the report said.

Together with its tool for building AI characters, Meta has also been adding AI-powered features designed to help creators improve their content. The company has introduced AI-powered tools for editing photos and for creating AI assistants that can answer questions from creators’ followers, and it plans to add text-to-video generation software for creators next year, per the report.

It was reported in August 2023 that Meta was developing AI-powered chatbot prototypes — known as “personas” — that can carry on humanlike conversations with the users of its social media platforms.

The personas in development at the time included one that speaks like Abe Lincoln and another that talks like a surfer and offers travel advice. They’re meant to be fun for users while also providing a new search function and recommendations.

In September 2023, Meta introduced 28 AI-powered personas that each have a personality and unique interests and can interact with users on the company’s social media and messaging platforms.

“We’ve been creating AIs that have more personality, opinions and interests, and are a bit more fun to interact with,” the company said at the time in a blog post.