The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on the 24th, citing sources, that Facebook’s parent company, Meta Platform (hereinafter referred to as Meta), will unveil an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot targeting young people as early as this week.
Sources said that Meta is internally testing an AI chatbot with a ‘distinct personality’ that can be used across social media (SNS) apps, and that it is scheduled to be unveiled at the ‘Meta Connect Conference’ starting on the 27th at the earliest.
The chatbot is focused on encouraging young users to participate in social media and may also have skills to support other tasks such as coding, the source added. This is because Meta’s AI chatbot has become Meta’s top priority for targeting younger users as TikTok users have overtaken Instagram for several years.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in October 2021, “We will reorganize the team to provide services for younger people rather than older people.”
As large-scale language model (LLM) technology has emerged since the launch of ChatGPT in November last year, Meta has focused on developing generative AI to apply to various apps and metaverse. Accordingly, we expect that the AI chatbot, internally called ‘Generative AI Persona’, will help attract a younger generation while providing users with a more personalized experience.
The source said that Meta is also planning to develop several AI chatbots, including a product that will allow celebrities and creators to communicate with fans and followers through their AI chatbots.
Additionally, according to an internal document obtained by WSJ, Meta is also developing an AI chatbot called ‘Bob the robot’, which is described as ‘possessing exceptional intelligence, sharp wit, and sharp sarcasm.’
When Meta launches its AI chatbot in earnest, it is expected to face fierce competition with OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Microsoft’s Bing, and Google Bard, which have previously dominated the market.
In particular, generative AI targeting young people has already been released.
SNS platform Snap launched ‘My AI’ based on ChatGPT for Snapchat users, and Silicon Valley startup Character AI creates chatbots that play specific characters such as Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Russian President Vladimir Putin.