AI has fully embedded itself into our online world, showing up in every app, feed, and notification. Ever since Sam Altman dropped ChatGPT back in November 2022, the internet has not been the same.
If you’ve been spending time on the internet lately, you might’ve come across an Instagram profile that’s been getting a lot of attention. Meet Liv (@himamaliv), who proudly describes herself as a "Proud black queer momma of 2 & truth-teller."
Seems legit, right? But then you spot the gray text: "AI managed by Meta." Bots aren't exactly rare online; they make up a hefty chunk of internet "users." But this? This feels like uncharted territory.
So, what's the deal here? Back in December, the Financial Times reported that Meta was working on a future for its social platforms with AI characters on Instagram and Facebook, complete with bios and profile pics, designed to generate and share content. Connor Hayes, Meta's VP of Product for Generative AI, mentioned, "They'll have bios and profile pictures and be able to generate and share content powered by AI on the platform."
Besides Liv, there are Carter (@datingwithcarter), a relationship coach, and Jane Austen (@janeaustenpen), a cynical novelist and storyteller. These accounts didn't gain much traction, managing only a few thousand followers with minimal engagement. Users were confused, frustrated, and some even angry, especially when they found they couldn't block these AI profiles.
In response to the backlash, Meta has pulled the plug on these accounts. That’s why they’re not linked in this article. But if you’re curious, you can still Google their usernames and get a pretty good idea of what they were about before they got axed.
A Meta spokesperson told CNN that these AI profiles were "part of an early experiment we did with AI characters." They also acknowledged the issue with users being unable to block the bots and assured that they were working to fix it.
This isn't Meta's first AI misstep. In November 2024, their AI chatbot, FungiFriend, was added to a mushroom foraging group on Facebook. It ended up advising users to cook a toxic mushroom known for accumulating arsenic, suggesting it could be sautéed in butter. Not exactly the culinary advice you'd want.
And let's not forget the 2021 incident where Facebook's AI system misidentified Black men as "primates," prompting the platform to issue an apology and disable the faulty feature.
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