--- title: "Facebook Is Euthanizing All Its Celebrity AI Clones" description: "In a major — though unsurprising — U-turn, Meta-formerly-Facebook has done away with its confusing celebrity AI clones." date: "2024-07-31" modified: "2024-07-31" authors: - name: "Maggie Harrison Dupré" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/mharrison" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/facebook-celebrity-ai-clones" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" tags: - "ai" - "ai chatbots" - "Meta" - "the digest" --- # Facebook Is Euthanizing All Its Celebrity AI Clones ![In a major — though unsurprising — U-turn, Meta-formerly-Facebook has done away with its confusing celebrity AI clones.]() *\Image: Alex Wong via Getty / Futurism\* ## So Long In a major — though unsurprising — U-turn, Meta-formerly-Facebook has euthanized its confusing celebrity AI clones, [*The Information* reported yesterday](). For those unfamiliar with the [unfortunate celeb avatars](), Meta last year [unveiled]() a surprisingly large cast of chatbot personas with which Instagram users could interface. These personas bore the faces of real famous people, but were bewilderingly presented as entirely separate fictional characters. Kendall Jenner, for example, was the face of "[Billie]()," a "ride-or-die" older sister who used phrases like "no problem, boo!" and "spill the tea!"; Tom Brady played "Bru," a "wisecracking sports debater" with a [questionable stance on Colin Kaepernick's]() NFL career; Paris Hilton played "Amber," a detective who helped users "solve whodunnits"; among others. Did it make any sort of sense? None at all! The personas were more than confusing, though. They were also expensive — [as reported last year by *The Information*](), one celebrity was paid as much as $5 million for the meager six hours of work it took to transform themself into an AI avatar. But now, not even a year later, it seems that Meta's multimillion-dollar cashout didn't quite pay off as the tech giant hoped. You can still chat with the characters, for now, but they no longer have celebrity faces; each now bears a sad-looking AI-generated image as their profile photo instead. A tragic end to an even sadder AI effort. ## With a Whimper Meta's decision to drop the celebrity faces from its celebrity AI personas coincides with a new Meta AI offering called [AI Studio](), which allows Instagram users to make AI versions of themselves and other characters. "You can no longer interact with AI characters embodied by celebrities," a spokesperson for the company confirmed to *The Verge*, adding that "we took a lot of learnings from building them and Meta AI to understand how people can use AIs to connect and create in unique ways." The spokeperson added that the new AI studio is an "evolution" of Meta's AI experiment with its personas. We're glad to hear that Meta was able to find some learnings in its wasted millions of dollars. Still, the fact that this confusing chatbot endeavor existed at all seems sharply representative of the divide between AI companies and the masses they're hoping to turn into users. AI companies, [Meta included](), continue to promise the game-changing tech of the future. At present, for all of those big promises, all we've gotten are Billie and Bru. **More on Meta AI:** [*Meta's AI Says Trump Wasn't Shot*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've reported extensively on the rise of AI as a cultural and business force shaping the media industry, and more broadly how those dynamics are changing how we all consume and share information and relate to one another. I'm also fascinated by public health policy and ethics, the role of emerging tech in politics and governance — and the powerful people and forces at those intersections — climate change, and the environment. My investigation on Sports Illustrated's use of AI-generated authors with fictional biographies won a 2024 Mirror Award for "Best Story on Media Coverage of Artificial Intelligence in Journalism and the Media" from Syracuse University's SI Newhouse School, I contributed to Niemen Lab's 2025 Predictions for Journalism series, and I've discussed my work for Futurism during appearances on NPR, CNN, the BBC, the CBC, and more. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I played Division I field hockey for the Minutewomen as a midfielder. Since then, I've lived in New Orleans, Louisiana and Manhattan, New York. I spend my free time running, reading, perusing archival fashion, and searching for the world’s best negroni. I also have a debonair tuxedo cat, Westley, who's named after "The Princess Bride." ### Author social links [Bluesky]()