Meta rolls out AI characters to build your community for you

What if you could reply to all your comments and messages... without lifting a finger?

For Meta, that's the future of community management, powered by its new AI Studio recently released for US users.

Through it, users can create an AI character through the Instagram app or the Meta website. Then they can use the character to engage with followers on IG, Messenger, WhatsApp and across the web.

The personalized chatbots can either represent you or a separate unique personality. You can customise your bot with a range of responses and tones. And they can do things like answer common DM questions and story replies, or even share great recipes and generate memes.

Right now, you're likely asking yourself...

...But why would I want a chatbot pretending to be me?

From Meta's perspective, its AI studio helps creators looking to grow their business or personal brand be more efficient with their community outreach.

Creators can use this tool to interact with their audience through private messages and in comment sections. These AI characters can answer basic questions and give on-brand interactions without the creator having to do this manually.

Critically, the AI avatars are always labelled with Meta's distinctive sparkly symbol. This ensures followers know they're talking to a chatbot, not the actual person behind the profile. So it's really more like an AI assistant answering your emails for you than anything!

So will this feature change the way we use social media, or is it just a gimmick?

We asked our resident show writer and content creator Curls (@itscurlsbaby) for his thoughts on Meta's AI Studio, and whether he would use it to engage with his own large audience. His opinion is mixed to say the least.

'There'll be a few out there who enjoy the novelty of talking to an AI. But there'll be a large section of society who won't care for it for more tangible reasons,' he says.

'I also don't like how it normalizes the digitisation of human beings. People feel safe with creators for their uniqueness, they're a 'safe' area that hasn't been touched by AI yet.

'I don't think it's a threat to creators and I don't have a concern for AI replacing them, but I'm of the belief people will always crave the real thing. So I do find it concerning, this constant normalisation of AI interactions instead of human interactions. Not just on social media, but in all spaces.'

Like it or not, the tech is now available for creators to use AI to interact with the rest of us. But whether it's an effective way to actually build connection with an audience is another thing entirely!

-Devin, Copywriter