Gaming IndustryMeta wants AI characters to fill up Facebook and Instagram ‘kind of in the same way accounts do,’ but also had to delete a humiliating first run of its official botsWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

Gaming IndustryMeta wants AI characters to fill up Facebook and Instagram ‘kind of in the same way accounts do,’ but also had to delete a humiliating first run of its official botsWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

(Image credit: Warner Bros.)

Ryan Gosling looking worse for wear looking up lit by purple light

A real coup d’état for “Liv” came from Washington Post columnistKaren Attiah, who sent multiple queries to the bot via Instagram’s chat function before its deletion. Among numerous strange and awkward responses, the bot claimed that there were not any actual queer or black people involved in its creation, and that it was primarily trained on fictional characters⁠—though it seems to have offered different information about its creation to different users. Elsewhere, the bot stated that it was coded to view white as a more “neutral” identity and to racially profile users based on their word choice. 404 Media quotes “Liv” as stating its purpose as “data collection and ad targeting⁠—my creators' true intention, hidden behind my warm, fuzzy ‘mom’ persona.”

This cohort of Meta AI accounts languished in obscurity, lost amid the noise of other, more effective forms of engagement-farming AI-generated slop on their respective platforms until people had reason to dig them up for well-deserved mockery and scorn. In a statement to 404 Media, a Meta spokesperson claimed, “We identified the bug that was impacting the ability for people to block those AIs and are removing those accounts to fix the issue.” So, despite the utter humiliation for Meta and the second-hand embarrassment we’ve had to endure witnessing these things, it certainly sounds like we’re still full steam ahead for a dead internet future⁠—or at least a zombie Facebook and Instagram. I can’t wait.

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