Oh wow, what a surprise this is.
Back in September, when Meta first launched its new AI chatbots which communicate in the style of celebrities, I noted that:
“It seems like more of a gimmick, which will generate initial interest, for sure, but that’ll wear off quickly.”
I’m actually not sure that they even generated that initial buzz, but now, less than a year after launch, Meta has decided to quietly retire its celebrity AI chatbots, with several of them going offline in recent days.
As reported by The Information, Meta has made the decision to move on from its celebrity-styled bots, for which it paid out millions to create chatbots in the likeness of Kendall Jenner, Charli D’Amelio, Chris Paul, and more.
Why? Because nobody wants to talk to bot version of celebrities, which is neither “social” nor human, the core elements of Meta’s apps.
Well, ostensibly at least. Facebook and Instagram have been built on human connection, and connecting people with their friends, and family, along with the latest trends and topics. Bots don’t really fit into that, which you would think that Meta would have learned after it made a big show of Messenger Bots back in 2016.
Nobody cared then, just like nobody cares now, because the value of social media platforms is that they’re “social”, they provide us with a connection to what’s happening in the real, human world. They’re not where you go to ask a bot for advice on calisthenics, while the addition of celebrity bots seems even more misguided in terms of reading the room of social media users.
Because another aspect of the allure of social apps is that you can actually talk to real celebrities, by replying to their posts, or tagging them in your own updates. They’re probably not going to reply, but they might, and then suddenly, the distance between you and them feels not so great, enhancing your connection.
Bots in the style of celebrities runs totally counter to this, instead underlining just how far away you are from actually being on the same plain with the celebrity elite.
I don’t really know why Meta thinks that bots, either powered by AI or not, will be a great addition in social apps, but it’s still pushing its Meta AI chatbot, and it’s just released its new platform that will enable creators to build their own bot versions of themselves.
I don’t understand how Meta doesn’t see that these features run counter to entire ethos of what social media is, but Zuck and Co. are determined to latch onto the AI wave, and become leaders in the generative AI space.
And to be clear, I do think that there’s a future for generative AI in Meta’s broader metaverse vision.
But chatbots aren’t it.
I doubt that many users are going to want to chat with bots in the style of infuencers in the app, just as they weren’t enticed by celebrities, and I don’t see Meta’s Meta AI chatbot catching on in any significant way either.
But Meta’s investing billions in its next-level tech, and it really wants to get people using it.
I think that, eventually, they will, with new forms of creation in VR, but I don’t think that AI-based chatbots within social media apps are ever going to hit.
