Meta Unveils A New Vision For Its Social Media Ecosystem With AI Characters!

Who comes to mind when we say, “social media?”

We bet one of the first names that pops into your mind is Meta. The American multinational technology conglomerate, formerly called Facebook, Inc., owns and operates Facebook, Instagram, Threads and WhatsApp. What’s more it also has its hands in virtual reality and augmented reality hardware, geotagging and much more.

Naturally, Meta has been at the center of various digital transformations and now it has unveiled a groundbreaking vision to redefine social media. Using its recently revealed AI portfolio, including AI image generators, AI Characters and other generative AI tools, Meta aims to push AI into everyday social media interactions.

So, what does Meta have planned for social media’s AI-powered future?

Let’s explore!
 

What Is Meta’s New Vision For Social Media?

Social media giant Meta is planning to fill its platforms with Ai-generated characters in the next few years to boost engagement. Meta is currently looking to leverage the fast-developing AI technology to create better experiences for its 3 billion users on WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram and Threads.

Meta’s Vice President of Product for Generative AI, Connor Hayes, said this vision of AI characters has become integral to social networks, saying, ““We expect these AIs to actually, over time, exist on our platforms, kind of in the same way that accounts do.”

These AI characters will feature profiles, bios and the capability to generate and share content, mimicking human behaviors on the platform. Hayes also stated that this is a priority for the business over the next two years as it aims to make its platforms “more entertaining and engaging.”

The initiative is part of Meta’s broader strategy to reshape how users interact online, blending human and AI presences seamlessly across its ecosystem. So, how does it plan to doing that?
 

What Is Meta’s Current Progress For AI Users On Social Media?

In July 2024, Meta launched AI Studio, a tool that would allow users to create AI characters for Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and other web-based apps. Powered by Meta’s Llama 3.1 model, AI Studio allows custom AI personas with unique knowledge bases and personalities that can talk directly with humans, respond to comments and much more.

To date, thousands of AI characters have been created and Meta now plans to expand AI Studio beyond the United States. By integrating these AI characters into its platform experiences over the next two years, Meta has already kickstarted its vision of the new social media landscape.

The company already announced plans to introduce AI-powered tools for follower interactions, photo editing and text-to-video generation, expected to launch in 2025. Yet, this new approach with AI characters will allow for auto-replies, responding to questions from followers and creating short video clips.

Meta believes that AI characters will bring about new forms of entertainment and increase participation on social platforms.
 

What Challenges Is Meta Facing?

While Meta has made significant headway, experts warn of possible risks, such as the spread of false information through the content made by AI. In fact, Meta’s initial concept was to have celebrities create AI avatars of themselves but was worried about AI versions of celebrities saying problematic things.

Moreover, Meta is not alone in its push to bring AI characters into social media interactions.

Snapchat's generative AI tools allow users to make 3D characters for augmented reality experiences, aimed at keeping followers more interested and engaged. Even ByteDance-owned TikTok introduced "Symphony," a set of AI tools for creating AI-generated avatars, videos and translations.

Becky Owen, global chief marketing and innovation officer at creative agency Billion Dollar Boy and former head of Meta’s creator innovations team, said, “Without robust safeguards, platforms risk amplifying false narratives through these AI-driven accounts.”

Meta has clearly thought this through and will label all AI-generated content across its platforms.
 

Conclusion

The line between human and AI-generated content is getting blurry and this latest move by social media giant Meta to deploy AI accounts will compound the issue. While AI characters could be a new creative format for entertainment, there is always a risk of it spreading low-quality, uninformed content, eroding confidence among users.

While improvements in AI have changed how we connect with technology, it is all set to revamp how we interact on social media with Meta’s new vision.

Do you think AI-generated characters will revolutionize engagement on Meta’s platforms? Will Meta be able to control the spread of AI-generated content?

Let us know in the comments below!