A generative AI chatbot, internally known as “Gen AI Personas,” will soon be unveiled by Meta to attract younger people to the realm of chatbots. The new chatbot is anticipated to debut on September 27 during Meta’s Connect event and will present some recognizable but… out-of-date ‘personas’.
According to The Verge, the chatbots will have various identities that encourage more engaging, human-like chats to appeal to younger consumers. Bender from Futurama and Alvin the Aliens are two influences on one of the ‘ sassy’ robot personalities.
In addition to adding “dozens” of well-known characters to its chatbot roster, Meta intends to develop a technology that will let famous people create their chatbots for their followers. This is fantastic news since I can now speak with Beyonce.
In the nascent field of AI, Meta is devoting a lot of time and effort to honing its chatbot game. We all recall Snapchat AI, which gained popularity for approximately a week before dissipating into obscurity.
Interestingly, the Wall Street Journal got in touch with Meghana Dhar, a former executive at Snap and Instagram, who said that although chatbots don’t “scream Gen Z to me, Gen Z is much more comfortable” with new technologies. She continues by saying that Meta’s objective with the chatbots is probably to maintain their interest for a longer period so it has “increased opportunity to serve them ads.”
That would account for Meta’s somewhat haphazard choice of ‘young folks’ personas. Although Bender from Futurama is quite well known, he isn’t a Gen Z symbol. Given that there are several alternative (more relevant) personalities to select from, it’s an exceedingly weird celebrity to stick onto your product as someone from the demographic Meta appears to be targeting.
Gen Z has an edge over other target demographics in that it is quite open about who it is that it is really into right now. Meta could have chosen anybody else, so hopefully the other characters it has in store are a little more… modern.
