Meta is moving away from its celebrity-like AI chatbots

The closure follows Meta’s Monday launch of AI Studio, a tool that lets creators in the U.S. create AI chatbots of their own making. Based on the statement, the company appears to favor that direction over more hand-crafted celebrity bots.

“You can no longer interact with AI characters personified by celebrities,” says Meta spokesperson Liz Sweeney Edge“We’ve learned a lot from building them and Meta AI to understand how people can use AI to connect and create in unique ways. AI Studio is an evolution, creating a space for everyone, including people, creators, and celebrities, to create their own AI.”

The initial list of Meta chatbots included: alternative people for people like Charli D’Amelio (Coco, a “dance enthusiast”), Dwyane Wade (Victor, an “Ironman triathlete who motivates you to be your best self”) and Paris Hilton (Amber, a “crime-solving detective partner”). The company planned to add more, such as chatbots based on Bear Grylls, Chloe Kim and Josh Richards, but as he noted informationthe company didn’t keep its word. Meta paid some celebrities millions for their likenesses, information reported in October.

While these celebrity-like bots didn’t perform as well as Meta might have hoped, the company sees a lot of potential in AI chatbots. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has talked a lot about chatbots with EdgeAlex Heath in an interview last year. The company has also integrated its Meta AI assistant with Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp.