Are there moments in your life when you need someone’s advice? An AI Snoop Dogg or Tom Brady could help.
Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook’s parent company, Meta, just announced enhancements to Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp on the opening day of the Meta Connect developer conference at the tech giant’s headquarters in Menlo Park, California.
“More Interesting” AI
The new tools include an AI personal assistant that Meta’s 3 billion users can interact with whenever they use any messaging app. Zuckerberg called these “more interesting” AI characters, such as “Max the sous chef,” who can help come up with dinner ideas, or Lily, a “personal editor and writing partner.”
This new creative AI tool lets users create and share custom stickers or update the visual style of photos with simple text prompts. You can chat with 28 different AIs to get unique perspectives on topics like travel, gaming, and food. These new experiences will help users have fun, make connections, and learn new things, Meta said.
Meta Investing Millions on Celebs
“Advances in AI allow us to create different AI personas to help us get different things done,” Zuckerberg said at the two-day event. “This isn’t just going to be about answering queries. This is about entertainment and about helping you do things to connect with the people around you.”
According to the tech news site The Information, to make the feature more appealing, Meta is paying millions of dollars to powerful celebrities to use their likenesses in their chat enhancements. They include retired NFL superstar Tom Brady, rapper Snoop Dogg, former reality TV star Paris Hilton, and TikTok influencer Charlie D’Amelio. The top creators could be paid millions of dollars each.
Voice Feature to Arrive Next Year
For now, those roles are mostly text-based chatbots on Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger, though Zuckerberg said a voice feature will also roll out early next year.
Meta may be hoping to capitalize on the huge audiences these stars have already amassed on different platforms.
Creators who have made a name for themselves on platforms like YouTube and TikTok have proven that they can entice fans to watch content, buy products, and use unused services, and their AI avatars may have the same impact.
The robot answers questions in real time and has human-like conversations with the user based on the character’s personality. “This isn’t just going to be about answering queries. This is about entertainment and about helping you do things to connect with the people around you,” Zuckerberg said.
Related:
Meta Unveils Exciting New AI Features: From Smart Glasses to AI-Generated Stickers
