Meta’s Creepy AI Bot Integration

Remember that mildly terrifying announcement from Meta about integrating millions of AI-powered profiles into Facebook and Instagram? The one we were all properly miffed about for approximately 48 hours before getting distracted by whatever algorithm-approved cat video appeared in our feeds next?

Well, surprise, surprise, they’re quietly pushing ahead with it anyway. Because why wouldn’t they? It’s not as if anyone’s paying attention. 👀

Meta is steadily sneaking more AI bot creation and interaction features across all its platforms – Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp. Let’s have a look at what they’re up to, shall we?

First off, Messenger has gifted some lucky users access to its “AI Studio” where you can find artificial beings to chat with when actual humans become too complicated. How utterly charming.

Within this AI playground, available on both desktop and mobile (how thoughtful), you’ll also be able to manage your own created AI characters. Because maintaining relationships with non-existent entities is precisely what we all need in our lives.

WhatsApp isn’t being left out of this dystopian party, with its own AI Studio link appearing for users. That’ll ensure you can find AI bots to natter with whenever those pesky real people in your life are busy doing human things.

Which, if we’re being honest, seems rather sad, doesn’t it? Chatting to computer-generated personalities and potentially forming attachments to them. But not to worry – I’m sure there won’t be any psychological consequences whatsoever from blurring the lines between human and artificial relationships. That always ends well in sci-fi, after all…

Your Instagram Feed: Now With Added Fakery

Instagram is also jumping on this peculiar bandwagon with a new AI option in the “Create” tools, where you can build an AI character whilst mindlessly scrolling through your feed.

Instagram’s been refining these AI creation tools for a while now, enabling all sorts of customisations to generate characters for… well, I’m not entirely sure what purpose, but I’m certain it’s absolutely essential to our wellbeing.

And if that weren’t enough, soon you’ll be able to give your AI character a voice as well. Because text-based artificial friends are so 2024, darling.

All of this is part of Meta’s grand plan to reshape in-app conversations through automated characters, presumably to drive more “engagement” (that sacred metric that pays for Mark Zuckerberg’s hoodies).

The Not-So-Hidden Agenda

Late last year, a Meta representative casually mentioned the company’s plan to bring millions of AI characters into its apps, complete with profiles, bios and all the trimmings. These digital doppelgängers will post, comment, and engage like real people on Facebook and Instagram, and many users will likely have no idea they’re interacting with lines of code rather than actual humans.

I mean, Facebook users are already falling for all manner of rubbish AI-generated images. What could possibly go wrong when we add millions of convincingly human-like profiles to the mix?

It seems Meta is banking on these AI bots to generate more engagement and drive usage through simulated interaction and those lovely dopamine-inducing likes and comments. What a thoroughly wholesome business strategy.

Haven’t We Been Here Before?

The truly baffling part is that we’ve already learned similar lessons the hard way with social media. These platforms rushed to maximise engagement at all costs, which has now led to genuine concerns around mental health impacts and the influence of algorithmically-defined content feeds, particularly on younger users.

That’s why some regions are now moving to restrict social media access among teen users, due to established links between social platforms and anti-social behaviour.

Yet despite countless Parliamentary inquiries, Senate hearings, and damning reports into the impacts of social media addiction, we’re cheerfully repeating the same mistakes with the rush to lead the AI race. The developers are actively pushing to accelerate innovation with as few guardrails as possible. What could possibly go wrong?

The looming spectre of China and its rapid AI development is being used as a convenient excuse. But there are serious risks being casually sidestepped in this race to… well, I’m not entirely sure what we’re racing toward, but apparently we must get there before China does.

What This Actually Means For You

So what does all this mean for your social media experience? For starters, that account that just followed you might not be a human being at all. That supportive comment on your post? Potentially generated by an algorithm designed to keep you posting.

It feels like this should be an entirely different category of app. It’s not “social” in any meaningful sense; it’s something else entirely. Which might be beneficial in some contexts, but really ought to be clearly separated from actual human interaction, rather than integrated in a way that deliberately blurs the lines.

But Meta will generate more engagement, and more engagement means more ads, more revenue, and another zero added to Zuckerberg’s bank balance.

I understand why Meta’s keen to push ahead quickly, but it does feel rather like watching someone cheerfully assemble a time bomb in your living room while insisting it’s just a quirky new clock.

What do you think about potentially interacting with AI bots disguised as real people in your social feeds? Would you prefer if they were clearly labelled? Hit reply and let me know your thoughts – and I promise it will be the actual me reading them, not an AI assistant pretending to be a brand strategist from the Wirral!