“Meta Opens Floodgates On AI-Generated Accounts On Facebook, Instagram
AI-generated user accounts are flooding Instagram and Facebook, according to their parent company, Meta. The company is rolling out a wide array of AI products, including one that helps users create AI characters on Instagram and Facebook. Meta hopes to attract a younger audience, in a face-off with key competitors like TikTok and Snapchat. Connor Hayes, vice president of product for generative AI at Meta, tells London’s Financial Times, “We expect these AIs to actually exist on our platforms in the same way that [human] accounts do.” The new developments from Meta join an online tool called AI Studio, launched in July to allow users to make their own chatbots. You can clone yourself, or create an artificial persona online, using text-to-video software – and building an artificial presence has never been easier.
Aitana Lopez is an international model based out of Barcelona. Fluent in Spanish, she travels the world, according to her Instagram account – where she has nearly 350,000 followers. Aitana earns between $3,000-10,000 per month from her brand deals, according to Euronews. She’s active on Fanvue, a competitor to OnlyFans – where digital creators can monetize their content online. Aitana, as the first two letters in her name suggest, is not real – and neither is her backstory. She was developed by Rubén Cruz, the designer and founder of agency, The Clueless.
Kimochii is another AI-created influencer. She’s the brainchild of a gentleman who decided to remain anonymous on Business Insider, as he explained his conflicted ethics and parental impulses around his AI avatar creation. Fired by his company, he turned on his coding skills – and built a female influencer on Instagram. “I find interacting with followers weird,” says Kimochii’s creator. “So I try to avoid it.”
Jenny Dearing is another entrepreneur capitalizing on the AI-influencer trend. The co-founder and CEO of 1337 (pronounced “leet”, in a throwback to eighties gaming and hacker culture), her company launched last year with $4 million in seed capital. Users can suggest what 1337’s artificial influencers do and say, rather than just allowing AI to completely run the show. “Today, we have a rare opportunity to combine human interaction with early-stage AI,” Dearing tells TechCrunch. “In a world oversaturated with influencers who are often either too commercial or too impersonal, 1337 introduces diverse, AI-driven entities that engage users in entirely new, dynamic ways.” The company’s business model allows for revenue share and brand partnerships, not unlike other creator platforms.”