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Meta to Launch AI-Powered Personas Like Abraham Lincoln: Report

Meta Platforms is working on a range of AI chatbots that exhibit different personalities.

Published on August 01, 2023 06:51 AM EST

Meta plans to launch artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots that exhibit personalities of real-world personalities such as Abraham Lincoln, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Tuesday. With the new bots, Meta intends to boost engagement on its social media platforms and collect more user data to improve ad targeting. 

New AI Bots Developed to Drive User Engagement 

Meta Platforms is reportedly developing an assortment of AI-powered chatbots that exhibit personalities of different known characters, according to FT. The move aims to drive user engagement within the company’s social media platforms.

Per the report, Meta has been working on different prototypes for AI chatbots that can have humanlike interactions with users. Some of these chatbots, called “personas” by company employees, take the form of popular characters such as Abraham Lincoln. Similarly, another chatbot was developed to advise users on travel plans in the style of a surfer. 

The new AI bots could become available as soon as September, with the primary objective of offering a new search function and recommendations and being an exciting product for users to interact with. In addition to boosting engagement, chatbots could collect a large amount of data on users’ interests, according to industry experts, allowing Meta to target audiences with more relevant content and ads. 

Threads Growth Slowing Down But No Impact on Meta’s Stellar 2023 Performance

Meta’s plans to roll out AI-based chatbots come as the company strives to boost retention on its newly-launched Twitter competitor app, Threads, which lost over half its users weeks after its launch. 

Threads experienced rapid growth upon the rollout, recording over 100 million sign-ups in less than a week. However, user engagement metrics began trending down shortly afterward, followed by a slowdown in growth. Meta’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg described the drop-off as “normal,” adding he expected retention rates to grow as the app brings more features, such as a desktop version and search functionality. 

Still, Meta’s overall performance and core financials remain strong in 2023, driven by the ongoing AI boom. Last week, shares of the Facebook owner rose to a new 1-year high after it reported better-than-expected Q2 2023 financial results and delivered a “monster guidance” for the third quarter. 

What do you think about Meta’s decision to make new AI bots sound and behave like real-world characters? Let us know in the comments below.