Social media giant Meta, formerly known as Facebook, is set to launch AI chatbots with personalized personalities on its platforms. This move is aimed at attracting younger users and increasing engagement. While generative AI has been praised for its potential to revolutionize industries, social media apps have struggled to go beyond visual effects and basic chatbot interactions. However, Meta believes that introducing chatbots with distinct characters will be a unique and appealing feature.
According to reports from The Wall Street Journal, Meta’s AI chatbots will be showcased at the upcoming Connect conference in Menlo Park. These chatbots will offer up to 30 different personalities, allowing users to interact with bots that converse like a surfer, Abraham Lincoln, a sassy robot, or even Alvin the Alien reminiscent of Marvin the Martian from Bugs Bunny cartoons. In addition, Meta plans to develop a chatbot creation tool that will allow celebrities and potentially everyone to create bots in their own persona and style.
While some may view these AI chatbot personas as nothing more than a novelty, Meta aims to leverage their entertainment value to increase awareness and usage of its chatbot tools. By encouraging users to share intriguing and humorous bot responses with friends, Meta hopes to generate more interest and engagement within its apps.
Nevertheless, some skeptics argue that the real value of chatbots lies in providing accurate and useful information, not in mimicking historical figures or entertainers. Although the introduction of character-aligned bots may initially create buzz, it remains to be seen whether they will sustain long-term engagement and usage.
One potential benefit of Meta’s approach is its ability to keep users within its own apps instead of migrating to competitors. By developing its own language model (LLM) to compete with OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Meta aims to promote its own advanced AI tools and retain user attention. This strategy is reminiscent of how Snapchat drives usage through the sharing of its augmented reality (AR) lenses, enticing users to visit the app to try them out.
While the introduction of AI chatbot personas may be seen as a gimmick, it serves as a promotional tool for Meta to increase awareness and highlight its evolving AI capabilities. However, only time will tell if these chatbot personalities truly become a significant driver of engagement or if they remain mere novelties.
In conclusion, Meta’s plan to launch AI chatbots with distinct personalities on its social media apps aims to attract younger users and increase engagement. While the effectiveness of character-aligned bots in driving long-term usage remains uncertain, Meta hopes to raise awareness and retain users within its platform through this gimmicky approach.
