Meta's embrace of artificial intelligence (AI) may soon
alter the way that billions of users socialize on its apps.
According to the Financial Times, the tech giant is planning to roll out millions of generative AI characters that will
appear as users on Facebook and Instagram.
“We expect these AIs to actually, over time, exist on our platforms, kind of in the same way that accounts do,” said Connor
Hayes, vice president of product for generative AI at Meta. “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,” he told the Financial Times.
While bots are typically viewed as a negative
aspect of navigating social-media platforms, Meta’s decision to purposefully introduce non-human users into its social media ecosystem is linked to the company’s desire to appeal to a
younger generation of users.
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Meta has been hinting at this change for some time, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg stating back in August
that “every part of what we do is going to get changed in some way [by AI].” The founder used the example of friend-content heavy feeds becoming populated by creator-content, and “in
the future, a lot of it is going to be AI generated,” he added.
Meta recently acquired Social.ai, an app
where users interact with millions of AI bots, and its creator Michael Sayman, which has likely informed the company’s decision to develop these new generative AI features.
Bots have been plaguing social media platforms for years, duping human users, spreading unwanted content, and skewing the results
advertisers receive. Fake AI-generated accounts, however, have the power to stoke major engagement.
How users react to the introduction of millions of AI bots will remain a mystery
until the company begins testing the feature. Regardless of the public’s reaction, Meta is continuing to push the purpose and functionality of social media, moving further away from
friend-building communities to social automation.