Meta Platforms began its developer conference, ‘Meta Connect 2023’, with a host of new announcements and new products.
This includes new AI experiences across its portfolio; an AI assistant; AI stickers; AI chatbots infused with celebrity personalities; the Meta Quest 3 mixed reality headset; and a new generation of Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses.
But it was perhaps the AI chatbots that come with celebrity personalities that attracted the most attention that can be used on Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp.
The company is calling its main chatbot “Meta AI”, which is still in beta and can be used in its messaging platforms.
This is only available in the US at the moment, and is described as an advanced conversational assistant that’s available on WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram, and is coming to Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses and Quest 3.
Meta AI can give users real-time information and generate photorealistic images from your text prompts in seconds to share with friends.
But users can also ask Meta AI questions in chat “to settle arguments” or ask other questions. It utilises Llama 2, the large language model that the company released for public commercial use in July.
Meta is also launching social profiles on Facebook and Instagram, so users can follow them and get to know what they’re all about.
If a person is part of the beta product rollout in the US, the user will be able to interact with the AIs directly from their social profiles by sending them a message on Instagram or Messenger. The AIs’ responses to direct messages are generated by Meta’s AI technology.
The idea is that they will be used for more entertainment purposes, and not just answering questions.
According to Meta, the AI celebrity chatbots will have “personality” and specialise in certain subjects, such as sports debating, roasting the user, or cooking advice.
The AI personalities are designed to be messaged on WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram, but they are still in testing mode however and do have some limitations.
Meta said to think of these AIs as a new cast of characters – all with unique backstories.
Meta said it has partnered with cultural icons and influencers to play and embody some of these AIs. They’ll each have profiles on Instagram and Facebook as well. These are some of the AI celebrity chatbots and what they specialise in:
Meta said it add new characters in the coming weeks played by Bear Grylls, Chloe Kim, and Josh Richards among others.
Meta has also launched AI stickers, that enable users to generate customised and stickers for their chats and stories using technology from Llama 2.
This new AI sticker feature designed to help users use imagery to represent how they are feeling. This is rolling out to select English-language users over the next month in WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, and Facebook Stories.
Meta is also offering image editing with AI for Instagram, allowing a user for example to either restyle an image or change the backdrop.
Restyle lets the reimagine their images by applying the visual styles they describe, such as “watercolor” or a more detailed prompt such as “collage from magazines and newspapers.
Backdrop changes the scene or background of an image. This can be achieved via prompts such as “put me in front of a sublime aurora borealis” or “surrounded by puppies”.
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