Instagram lets people create AI-powered versions of themselves

Meta enables anyone in the United States to create an AI version of themselves on Instagram or the web using a up-to-date tool called AI Studio.

The idea is that creators and business owners will operate these AI profiles to talk to their followers on their behalf. They’ll be able to talk directly to people in chat threads and respond to comments on the creator’s account. Meta says Instagram users in the US can start using AI Studio through your website or by starting a up-to-date “AI chat” directly on Instagram.

IN blog post on mondaythe company writes that “creators can customize their AI based on things like what they’re seeing on Instagram, what topics to avoid, and what links they want to share.” The post says that creators will be able to toggle things like auto-replies from their AI, and dictate which specific accounts it can interact with.

AI Studio also lets you create entirely up-to-date AI characters that can be deployed in Meta apps. Meta is taking a cue from startups like Character.AI and Replika, where people are already talking to—and even falling in love with—themed chatbots. Like OpenAI’s custom GPT store, Meta will also showcase AI characters that people create for others to try out.

Meta’s first foray into the concept was to have a handful of celebrities create AI versions of themselves with the same likenesses but different names and personalities. At the time, Meta said it took this approach because it was concerned that the AI ​​versions of the celebrities would say problematic things on behalf of their human counterparts. (Even with the controls built into AI Studio, that’s bound to happen anyway. This is generative AI, after all.)

It seems Meta is at least aware that this is risky territory. The company says AI profiles are clearly marked everywhere they appear. company manual for creators goes into detail about the AI’s development process, and it seems like the responsibility of listing topics the AI ​​won’t cover falls on the creator. One example of a Meta question you could tell the AI ​​not to answer is, “Should I invest in cryptocurrencies?”