Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that the company will begin showcasing AI characters created by users through Meta’s AI studio on Instagram. This testing phase will commence in the U.S.
This announcement coincides with the launch by Character.ai, a chatbot company backed by a16z, which now allows users to interact with AI avatars via calls.
In a post on his broadcast channel, Zuckerberg emphasized that these chatbots will be clearly marked as AI to ensure users are aware. “We are rolling out an early test in the U.S. of our AI studio, so you might start seeing AIs from your favorite creators and interest-based AIs on Instagram in the coming weeks. These will primarily appear in messaging for now and will be clearly labeled as AI,” he explained. He added that it’s still early days for these AIs, and the company will continue to improve them and make them available to more people soon.
Zuckerberg mentioned that Meta collaborated with creators like the meme account Wasted and technology creator Don Allen Stevenson III to develop early versions of these creator-made chatbots.
In an interview shared on his social channels, Zuckerberg expanded on the potential uses for AI avatars. He noted the need for a variety of APIs to cater to different interests. “A big part of the approach is enabling every creator, and eventually every small business on the platform, to create an AI to help them interact with their community and, for businesses, with their customers,” he said. He acknowledged that the quality of AI avatars will evolve over time, becoming something of an “art form.”
Meta initially introduced its AI studio at its developer conference last year, aiming to help businesses build custom chatbots.
