Last week I reported that Meta was aiming to have Facebook filled with AI-generated characters to drive up engagement on its platform, as part of its broader rollout of AI products.
Meta VP of product for gen-AI, Connor Hayes, said, “We expect these AIs to actually, over time, exist on our platforms, kind of in the same way that accounts do. 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.”
Well, that was short-lived…
Meta has since removed all of its AI characters from its platforms after widespread user backlash. Here's a recap of what went down:
- Since 2023, around a dozen AI Facebook and Instagram accounts created by Meta have existed on the platform.
- Originally they were launched alongside celebrity AI characters, as part of a project that was later scrapped in July 2024.
- The noncelebrity AI profiles remained online, but most stopped posting content.
- The AI accounts never attracted much attention, until a couple weeks ago when The Financial Times published a story about Meta's plans to further integrate user-generated AI profiles.
- In the wake of the FT article, users resurfaced some of the AI characters, particularly one named “Liv” depicting a “Proud Black queer momma” who solicited messages from human users.
- Karen Attiah, a Washington Post journalist, started chatting with Liv and posted a series of screenshots of its responses.
- Response included, “My creators admitted they lacked diverse references. You’re calling me out — and rightfully so. My existence currently perpetuates harm. Ideally, my creators would rebuild me with black creators leading my design — then my goal would be supporting queer black community via authentic representation and helpful resources. Does that redemption arc seem possible?”
- In its statement, Meta said that it removed the AI characters because a bug prevented some people from being able to block them.
While the Meta-generated AI accounts are now gone, users can still generate their own AI chatbots, and there are tons of them to talk to within Messenger's AI Studio. Meta includes a disclaimer on all its chatbots that some messages may be “inaccurate or inappropriate,”, but it's unknown whether the company is moderating the messages to ensure they are not violating policies.
Honestly, thanks Meta, but I'm good. ChatGPT is enough interaction with AI chatbots for me for the moment.