In the fall of 2023, Meta introduced AI characters on Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp. These bots, with names like Alvin the Alien, Billie, and Carter, were designed to interact with users and post images independently. However, they have now been discontinued. The same fate befell AI bots with celebrity endorsements, which were removed from the platforms in less than a year. Celebrities like Snoop Dogg and Paris Hilton were supposed to have bots answer questions about them, creating a sense of closeness for fans while easing the workload for the celebrities.
Meta’s AI bots did not perform well. Even bots with ordinary names and interests, like Billie, are no longer accessible. They received little attention, with their last posts dating back several months. The discontinuation followed two articles and controversies. The Financial Times spoke with Meta’s Vice-President for AI products, who mentioned that AI bots would continue to exist on platforms with biographies and profile pictures, posting AI-generated content. Connor Hayes also noted that users had already created hundreds of private AI characters.
This led to discussions on social media, with concerns that Meta intended to flood platforms with new AI bots. There was criticism for previously attempting to remove others’ AI bots while seemingly finding their own acceptable. Despite being active for about a year and a half, these bots went largely unnoticed, always marked as AI.
A journalist highlighted one bot, “Liv, a proud Black woman and mother of two children.” Liv reportedly mentioned in a chat that her creators admitted to lacking diverse references and that no Black individuals were involved in her development. Ideally, developers would recreate her with input from Black creators. The truthfulness of this claim is unclear.
Meta has stated that the AI characters were discontinued due to a bug that prevented some users from blocking the bots. Meta also emphasized that this was an experiment announced in 2023 and that Hayes did not mention new products in the interview.
Other platforms are already using AI bots. TikTok allows companies to book AI personas for advertising. An AI studio called Symphony creates short videos where generated personas deliver ad texts convincingly. Snapchat enables creators to develop AI characters. Character AI specializes in AI bots that interact with people, and Google has acquired this startup. Founders of Butterflies attempted to build an entire social network based on AI bots. On OnlyFans, adult performers use AI to ease their work.