New strategy
Meta wants to populate Facebook and Instagram with AI-generated users
January 3, 2025 – 2:54 p.mReading time: 2 min.
Meta wants to introduce artificially generated characters on Facebook and Instagram. The AI bots should appear and be able to interact like real user profiles.
Meta has announced that it will fill its social networks Facebook and Instagram with artificially generated characters in the coming years. As the technology company tells the Financial Times, the AI bots will look like ordinary user profiles – complete with biographies, profile pictures and the ability to create and share your own content.
Connor Hayes, vice president of generative AI products at Meta, described the project as a company project of “utmost importance” in an interview with the newspaper. In the next two years, the group wants to make its apps “more entertaining and appealing”. This also includes making interaction with artificial intelligence more social.
Since July 2023, Meta has been testing an AI studio in the USA that allows users to create their own virtual characters. According to Hayes, hundreds of thousands of AI personalities have already been generated. However, most users have not yet made the bots they have created public. In the future, the tool will also be available outside the USA.
Meta is also planning new options for influencers: They should be able to create digital versions of themselves, which then interact independently with their followers. Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg has already demonstrated the possibility of having video conversations with AI avatars of well-known personalities.
The group is reacting to a trend in the industry. Competitor Snapchat introduced similar AI tools in September 2023 that allow content creators to design 3D characters for augmented reality experiences. The use of this AI-generated content there increased by more than 50 percent. TikTok is also experimenting with AI features and is currently testing a product line called Symphony that allows brands and creators to use AI for advertising.
Experts view the development critically. Becky Owen, head of marketing at a creative agency and former head of the creator innovation team at Meta, warned of possible risks in the Financial Times. Without robust security measures, the platforms could contribute to the spread of false narratives through AI-controlled accounts. Owen also emphasized that AI characters lack authentic experiences, emotions and empathy compared to human content creators.
Meta has responded to these concerns by specifying in its platform policies that AI-generated content must be clearly labeled as such. The group also plans to introduce additional AI functions, including text-to-video content creation software that will allow users to insert themselves into AI-generated videos.