--- title: "Meta Kills AI-Generated “People” Like “Proud Black Queer Momma”" description: "Meta was forced to euthanize its AI-generated \"characters\" after users discovered just how problematic they really are." date: "2025-01-06" modified: "2025-01-06" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/meta-kills-ai-people" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" - "Meta" tags: - "facebook" - "facebook ai" - "Meta" - "the digest" --- # Meta Kills AI-Generated “People” Like “Proud Black Queer Momma” ![Meta was forced to euthanize its AI-generated "characters" after users discovered just how problematic they really are.]() *\Image: Getty / Futurism\* ## Kill 'Em All Meta was forced to euthanize its [AI-generated "characters]()" after getting slammed for how cringe and problematic they were. As [*404 Media* reports](), Meta has now killed off most of its remaining AI user accounts — most of which were [launched in 2023]() and [kiboshed by summer 2024]() — in the wake of a backlash against one of its executives suggesting they may be the future of the company's social networks. At the end of 2024, Connor Hayes, Meta's VP of product for generative AI, [told the *Financial Times*]() that these AI-generated accounts would "have bios and profile pictures and be able to generate and share content powered by AI." Immediately following that end-of-year admission, folks online unsurprisingly [began clowning the notion]() of Facebook and Instagram-sponsored bot accounts. "Translation: 'Our real users are quitting the platform, so we will fill our community with fake users instead,'" [one Reddit user wrote](). "This is some deeply evil shit," [a Bluesky user opined](). ## Liz Lemon While criticism reached a fever pitch, users started tracking the fake profiles down — and what they found was somehow even worse, and stranger, than you'd imagine. As *Washington Post* columnist [Karen Attiah posted on Bluesky](), one of the since-killed profiles was described as a "proud Black queer momma of 2 & truth-teller." Named "Liz," the account existed primarily as a chatbot, and when Attiah asked it about the people who created it, she was met with a pretty jarring answer. "My creators' team is predominantly white, cisgender, and male — a total of 12 people: 10 white men, 1 white woman, and 1 Asian male," the AI profile responded. "Zero black creators — pretty glaring omission given my identity!" Along with the buzzword-heavy "Liz" account, Meta not only created accounts like "Carter," its dating coach chatbot, but also promoted user-generated AI accounts as well. As [folks took to Bluesky]() and [Reddit]() to dunk on these profiles, Meta started taking them down, *404* reported. In a [statement to *404*](), Meta spokesperson Liz Sweeney attempted to set the record straight about the company's AI profiles — but that "clarification" didn't provide much illumination. "There is confusion: the recent *Financial Times* article was about our vision for AI characters existing on our platforms over time, not announcing any new product," the spokesperson said. "The accounts referenced are from a test we launched... in 2023." "These were managed by humans," Sweeney continued, "and were part of an early experiment we did with AI characters." We've reached out to Meta to ask exactly how many profiles were killed and what, if any, the company's plans for AI users will be moving forward. Given the aforementioned non-clarification, however, we're not expecting much. **More on Meta:** [*Zuckerberg Seems Genuinely Alarmed by the Explosive Growth of Bluesky*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()