Meta is bringing artificial intelligence to social media. The company announced the launch of a new AI assistant program on Wednesday. For the occasion, it tapped 28 celebrities as beta avatars that users will be able to interact with.
“Interacting with them should feel like talking to familiar people; we did something to build on this even further,” the company said in a release. “We partnered with cultural icons and influencers to play and embody some of these AIs.”
View this post on Instagram
Instead of getting generic answers from an AI, each avatar has different interests and back stories.
Snoop Dogg becomes Dungeon Master, whom users are prompted to choose their own adventure with. Dwyane Wade is posing as Victor, an “ironman triathlete motivating you to be your best self,” and Naomi Osaka is Tamika, an “anime-obsessed Sailor Senshi in training.”
“I’ve partnered with Meta to bring you a new Al named Tamika, your anime-obsessed friend!” the tennis star wrote in a sponsored post on her Instagram account. “You’ll be able to chat with Tamika across Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp, just follow and DM @sailortamika to get started. Meta Als rolling out to U.S. users in phases. Voice coming later.”
Tamika’s Instagram page includes AI-generated posts representing the character’s interests, including drawing, a kawaii-inspired home office, a bento box and a behind-the-scenes cosplay design.
“Just styled my friend Leah with my newest Sailor Moon cosplay idea,” reads a caption on one of the posts.
Meta trained its AI using public Facebook and Instagram posts. Private posts were not used, the company told Reuters.
