© Reuters. Report: Meta intends to launch AI chatbots with personalities to retain users
According to a report in the Financial Times, Meta, the parent company of Facebook (NASDAQ: ) and Instagram, plans to release artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots with human-like personalities in order to focus on user retention. Today, the FT reports that subjects close to the matter have declared that the chatbot prototypes are under construction and that the final products will be able to have discussions with users on a human level. According to the report, the range of chatbots will be capable of expressing different personalities and is expected to be released as early as next month. Several sources claim that Meta employees have dubbed the chatbots “personas” and that these would take on the shape of various characters. Another person with knowledge of the plans said the company has already tested a bot that talks like former US president Abraham Lincoln, while another would provide travel advice speaking like a surfer. According to sources reported by the FT, the purpose of chatbots will be to offer recommendations and new search features, as well as being a “pleasant product to entertain with”. Cointelegraph reached out to Meta for further comments, but received no response at the time of publication. The FT source said the company could automate checks on chatbot results for ensure accuracy and avoid speech that violates the rules. The development comes at a time when Meta is committed to retaining users. On July 26, during the second-quarter 2023 earnings call, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg discussed the company’s latest product and Twitter rival Threads. He stated that he “is seeing more people returning daily than I would have expected”. Zuckerberg also reported that Meta is primarily focusing on retaining Threads users. The earnings call also revealed that another $3.7 billion has been invested in the development of the metaverse. The introduction of more accessible chatbots also brings the opportunity to collect large amounts of user data. At the same time, OpenAI, the maker of the viral chatbot ChatGPT, has been dragged into a class action suit for alleged data theft perpetrated by its bots. Translation by Walter Rizzo
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