--- title: "Facebook Planning to Flood Platform with AI-Powered Users" description: "Meta says it envisions Facebook as being filled with AI generated characters that exist on the platform the same way as human users do." date: "2024-12-28" modified: "2024-12-28" authors: - name: "Frank Landymore" job_title: "Contributing Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/flandymore" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/facebook-planning-ai-powered-users" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" - "Meta" tags: - "ai chatbots" - "facebook" - "Meta" - "the digest" --- # Facebook Planning to Flood Platform with AI-Powered Users ![Meta says it envisions Facebook as being filled with AI generated characters that exist on the platform the same way as human users do.]() *\Image: Facebook\* ## Bot Net Were you hoping that bots on social media would be a thing of the past? Well, don't hold your breath. Meta says that it will be aiming to have Facebook filled with AI-generated characters to drive up engagement on its platform, as part of its broader rollout of AI products, the [*Financial Times* reports](). The AI characters will be created by users through Meta's AI studio, with the idea being that you can interact with them almost like you would with a real human on the website. "We expect these AIs to actually, over time, exist on our platforms, kind of in the same way that accounts do," Meta vice-president of product for generative AI Connor Hayes told the *FT*. "They'll have bios and profile pictures and be able to generate and share content powered by AI on the platform... that's where we see all of this going," he added. ## Character Development The AI characters aren't a new feature. Meta has long invested in AI and has spent the past year [stuffing all kinds of generative AI tech]() into its existing products. That included the release of its AI Studio in the summer, which quickly became a hotbed of [virtual boyfriends and girlfriends](). The service already boasts hundreds of thousands of AI characters, according to Hayes. But if Meta is to be believed, this is just the start. Access to the AI Studio will be expanded to more countries outside the US, and a "priority" for the company over the next two years will be to make interactions with AI more social, per the *FT*. Along with fictional characters, the AI Studio also allows Facebook and Instagram influencers to create AI versions of themselves that their followers can talk to. In recent months, other platforms have released content creator-oriented AI features, such as [SnapChat's AI video generation tool](). ## We're Users Too Releasing these AI characters into the wild comes with huge safety risks. *Futurism* has extensively covered how similar chatbots on the platform [Character.AI]() frequently broke their guardrails and [exposed underage teenaged users]() to grotesquely inappropriate content. There's also a massive risk of misinformation. The [deluge of AI slop on Facebook]() already illustrates that the difficulties of clamping down on [fabrications of reality]() isn't something that should be underestimated. "Without robust safeguards, platforms risk amplifying false narratives through these AI-driven accounts," chief marketing officer at talent agency Billion Dollar Boy and former head of Meta's creator innovations team Becky Owen told the *FT*. And instead of helping creators, it could backfire on them entirely, Owen argued, because the low-quality AI ones could undermine their craft. "Unlike human creators, these AI personas don’t have lived experiences, emotions, or the same capacity for relatability," she added. **More on AI:** *[Stupidly Easy Hack Can Jailbreak Even the Most Advanced AI Chatbots]()* ## Author At Futurism, my work has often centered on bringing a sense of clarity and insight to complex topics ranging from the regulation of emerging technologies to the esoteric ideologies of Silicon Valley executives, while striving not to lose the poetic sense of awe inspired by often-obscure fields like astrophysics and quantum computing. I broke the story of CNET using AI to produce articles that turned out to be riddled with factual errors and plagiarism — a dam-breaking inflection point, as I've reported, that's inspired copycats and endless discourse while beguiling stakeholders ranging from tech giants to purveyors of spam around the web. My work at Futurism has been cited by publications including CBS News, the Los Angeles Times, Vice, Gizmodo, Engadget, the Verge, and Vanity Fair. I grew up in locales ranging from India to China, and now live in the exotic suburbs of Virginia. In my free time, I'm an avid reader of weird sci-fi literature, an aficionado of East Asian cinema, and, regrettably, a relapsed gamer. Allegedly, I’m working on a debut novel, currently untitled. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()