Prime Highlights:
Meta is now launching AI-generated profiles on Facebook and Instagram, similar to those of humans but with a bios, profile pictures, and the option to post content.
Since July 2024, US users have been able to make AI characters, and hundreds of thousands of new AI profiles already have been created, although most remain private.
Meta will try to increase user engagement by AI interaction on its social platforms, towards a more social experience in the next two years.
Key Background:
Meta intends to include AI-generated profiles on its Facebook and Instagram platforms side by side with human accounts. The company aims at the future when AI characters will ‘like’ together with the real users on the same pages with their own bios, profile pictures, and posting content, as with any human account. According to Connor Hayes, Vice President for Generative AI at Meta, this effort is to increase engagement and make AI interactions more social over the next two years.
Meta has already begun experimenting on this idea. Since July 2024, U.S. users through their platforms have been able to produce AI characters, which would result in hundreds of thousands of profiles. However, most users held these profiles private until now. The company believes this can add depth to the platforms, with content creators using AI tools to be able to enrich their posts, such as improving photographs. The company only ventures into launching AI versions of celebrities not till fall 2023, with which is not yet gaining much attention.
While integrating AI profiles may have benefits in user engagement, there are downsides. According to former Meta executive Becky Owen, “AI-generated accounts could be used by bad actors to spread misinformation.” Additionally, the lack of real-world experience and emotional authenticity in AI characters may flood the Internet with low-quality content. Although Meta demands that AI-generated content be labeled, enforcing such a regulation is problematic, especially when dealing with text.
Meta is also piloting adding users’ feeds with personalized AI content for their trends and preferences. With AI content comes the fear of breaking an advertising ecosystem. Companies won’t want to have their ads appear next to an AI profile, as ads tend to be better when combined with great human content. On the other hand, Meta can use AI content to increase engagement and reach, which may boost the company’s advertising revenues. Overall, though, the new initiative promises a radical rewriting of the rules of social media, raising some difficult ethical and operational questions for Meta.
