Meta is embracing AI-generated social media profiles

In a Financial Times interview published last week, Meta VP of Generative AI Connor Hayes shed new light on the tech giant’s plan to fill its platforms with AI-generated profiles in a bid to fill its apps with more bots make its apps “more entertaining and engaging.”

• Per Hayes, the AI profiles will essentially function in a similar way to human users. They’ll have bios and profile pics, and can post AI-generated content and interact with human users.

It was already happening

In the days following Hayes’ interview, viral social media posts drew attention to a series of existing AI-generated profiles on Facebook and Instagram initially created by Meta in September 2023. These profiles had blue verified check marks, and were labeled as “AI managed by Meta.”

• These include characters like Brian, “everybody’s grandpa;” Carter, a “relationship coach” whose bio encouraged users to DM for advice; and Liv, a “proud Black queer momma of 2 & truth-teller” who routinely posted AI-generated photos of her “kids.”
• Many of their posts appeared similar to the AI spam that’s become prevalent in some corners of Facebook (think: Shrimp Jesus), as 404 Media noted.

We hardly knew ye: On Friday, Meta deleted all the older AI profiles in question👆, saying they “were managed by humans and were part of an early experiment we did with AI characters."

👀 Looking ahead…According to Hayes, Meta will likely become more “proactive” about surfacing AI-generated content to users over time.