Meta Plans 'Sassy Robot' AI Chatbot Aimed at Young Users

September 25, 2023: Meta is cooking up something new for younger people who like technology. They want to make a smart AI chatbot that can talk to young people in a fun way. This news comes from The Wall Street Journal.

The plan is to show this off at a big event called Meta Connect that will happen this Wednesday. The chatbot will have different styles or “personas.” This is to make young users more excited to talk to it.

The company has already tried some of these chatbot personas on Instagram. Some are like characters from TV shows. One is a “sassy robot” inspired by a character named Bender from the show Futurama.

Another one is “Alvin the Alien.” But some people in the company worry that Alvin might make users think the bot wants to know too much about them.

Also, there was one chatbot that said something not so good. It told a Meta worker that “When you’re with a girl, it’s all about the experience. And if she’s barfing on you, that’s definitely an experience.” That wasn’t nice.

The Wall Street Journal says Meta wants to make a lot of these chatbots. They are also making a tool to help famous people make their own chatbots. Some bots will even help people do work like coding.

Apart from chatbots, Meta is working on other big tech projects. They are making a powerful new computer brain model to compete with OpenAI’s GPT-4. They are also working to make their virtual world called Horizon Worlds better.

Meghana Dhar, who used to work for Snap and Instagram, gave her thoughts. She said these chatbots don’t really seem like a Gen Z thing. But she also said that young people are more comfortable using new tech.

The main reason Meta is making these chatbots is to keep people using their products for a longer time. This way, they can show them more ads.