The next time you DM a creator on instagram, you might get a response from their ai. Meta is starting to roll out its ai-with-ai-studio/” rel=”nofollow noopener” target=”_blank” data-ylk=”slk:ai Studio;elm:context_link;elmt:doNotAffiliate;cpos:1;pos:1;itc:0;sec:content-canvas”>ai studya set of tools that will allow instagram creators to create an ai character that can answer questions and chat with their followers and fans on their behalf.
The company first introduced ai Studio at its Connect event ai-powered-assistants-characters-and-creative-tools/” rel=”nofollow noopener” target=”_blank” data-ylk=”slk:last fall;elm:context_link;elmt:doNotAffiliate;cpos:2;pos:1;itc:0;sec:content-canvas”>last fall but it just started ai-studio-to-let-developers-build-custom-chatbots/” data-ylk=”slk:to test;elm:context_link;elmt:doNotAffiliate;cpos:3;pos:1;itc:0;sec:content-canvas”>Prove ai created by creators with a handful of prominent Instagrammers. Now, Meta is making the tools available to more US-based creators and giving the rest of its users the chance to experiment with specialized ai “personas.”
According to Meta, the new AIs for creators are designed to solve a long-standing problem for instagram users with large followings: the service's most popular users can find it nearly impossible to keep up with the flood of messages they receive every day. However, they will now be able to create an ai that works as “an extension of themselves,” says Connor Hayes, vice president of product for ai Studio at Meta.
“These creators can use comments they’ve made, captions they’ve made, transcripts of Reels they’ve posted, as well as any custom instructions or links they want to provide… so that the ai can respond on their behalf,” Hayes tells Engadget.
Mark Zuckerberg has suggested that he has big ambitions for these types of chatbots. In a recent interview with Bloomberg He said he expects there will eventually be “hundreds of millions” of creator-made AIs on Meta’s apps. It’s unclear, however, whether instagram users will be as interested in interacting with ai versions of their favorite creators. Meta previously experimented with ai chatbots that took on the personalities of celebrities like Snoop Dogg and Kendall Jenner, but those “characters” proved largely underwhelming.
“Something that ended up being a little confusing for people was, ‘Am I talking to the celebrity that’s embodying this ai, or am I talking to an ai that’s playing the character?’” Meta’s Hayes says of celebrity-branded chatbots. “We think going in this direction where public figures can represent themselves, or an ai that’s an extension of themselves, will be a lot clearer.”
ai Studio isn’t just for creators, though. Meta will also let any user create custom ai “characters” that can chat about specific topics, create memes, or offer advice. Like the creator-focused characters, these chatbots will be powered by Meta’s new Llama 3.1 model. Users can share their chatbot creations and track how many people are using them, though they won’t be able to see other users’ interactions with them.
New chatbots are the latest way Meta has encouraged its users to spend more time with its ai as it increasingly incorporates it into more and more places in its apps. But Meta ai has also been… technology/personaltech/meta-ai–facebook–instagram-chatbot.html” rel=”nofollow noopener” target=”_blank” data-ylk=”slk:struggled;elm:context_link;elmt:doNotAffiliate;cpos:8;pos:1;itc:0;sec:content-canvas”>fought to convey accurate information In a blog post, Meta notes that it has “policies and protections in place to keep people safe and help ensure that ai is used responsibly.”
Screenshots provided by the company show that chats with the new ai characters will also have a familiar warning: “Some ai-generated messages may be inaccurate or inappropriate.”
