Meta is to launch artificial intelligence chatbots embodied by celebrities including Snoop Dogg, Kendall Jenner and Naomi Osaka.
Mark Zuckerberg made the announcement at the company’s annual Connect conference, where he spoke about new AI products at Facebook’s parent company.
The chatbots will feature unique interests and allow users to receive personalised advice, with the intention that they will be more interactive and fun to use.
Meta will launch more than 28 of these AIs in beta, with some played by celebrities. Snoop Dogg will be “Dungeon Master”, who will assist users to play adventure games, the former basketball player Dwyane Wade will be an AI called “Victor” designed to help users work out, Osaka will be anime-obsessed “Tamika”, and Jenner will be “Billie”, a “big sis” referred to as a “ride-or-die companion”.
The other bots have been trained to answer queries on topics such as writing speeches and cooking – for example, sous chef “Max” will help users come up with recipes.
Earlier this week, the Wall Street Journal reported that Meta’s early tests with the bot were met with problems. One document seen by the WSJ found that one employee found the chatbot to be rude and did not understand its personality.
“This isn’t just about answering queries, it’s about entertainment,” said Zuckerberg, Meta’s CEO. He added that there may be some limitations as the chatbots do not have access to real-time information at present. That will be added in the coming months, he said.
This move is said to be Meta’s attempt to appeal to younger audiences and allow them to connect and interact with the AIs.
During the announcement, Zuckerberg said that most people have not been able to experience AI and Meta is seeking to address that through bringing them into apps that billions of people use.
Meta also announced the launch of “Meta AI”. Launched in partnership with Microsoft and Bing Search, it is a basic assistant that users can talk to like a person.
Other future products include an AI studio for people and developers to build their own AIs, targeted towards businesses and creators, and “Emu” (Expressive Media Universe) – an image generator where users can generate images in a matter of seconds across Meta apps including Instagram, WhatsApp and Facebook.
Earlier this year Snapchat launched a chatbot, My AI, powered by OpenAI’s technology, and there have also been reports that TikTok is testing an in-app AI chat bot.
