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In September 2023, Meta made a big deal<\/a> of its new AI chatbots that used celebrities\u2019 likeness: everyone from Kendall Jenner to MrBeast leased themselves out to embody AI characters on Instagram and Facebook. The celebrity-based bots were killed off last summer<\/a> after less than a year, but users have recently been finding a handful of other, entirely fake bot profiles still floating around \u2014 and the reaction is not good.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n There\u2019s \u201cJane Austen<\/a>,\u201d a \u201ccynical novelist and storyteller\u201d; \u201cLiv<\/a>,\u201d whose bio claims she is a \u201cproud Black queer momma of 2 & truth-teller\u201d; and \u201cCarter<\/a>,\u201d who promises to give users relationship advice. All are labeled as \u201cAI managed by Meta\u201d and the profiles date back to when the initial announcement was made. But the more than a dozen AI characters have apparently not been very popular: each has just a few thousand followers, with their posts getting just a few likes and comments. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cWhat the fuck does an AI know about dating?????\u201d reads one recent comment on the AI dating coach bot\u2019s profile. \u201cThis isn\u2019t only virtual blackface, but it\u2019s just all around weird,\u201d a commenter wrote on a post on Liv\u2019s page. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n Another point of ire is that there doesn\u2019t appear to be a way to block the bots through typical channels: the option to block or restrict the profiles is missing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Many of the AI bots haven\u2019t shared new content on their grid since early 2024, and it\u2019s unclear how (or if) users have been finding and engaging with these profiles over the past year. Last week, the Financial Times <\/em>reported<\/a> that Meta envisions a future where social media platforms are filled with AI bots.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cWe expect these AIs to actually, over time, exist on our platforms, kind of in the same way that accounts do,\u201d Connor Hayes, vice-president of product for generative AI at Meta, told the outlet. \u201cThey\u2019ll have bios and profile pictures and be able to generate and share content powered by AI on the platform . . . that\u2019s where we see all of this going.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div>\n The idea of purposely flooding social media with bots is ridiculous on its face, but it\u2019s in line with how Meta has promoted generative AI tools. Anyone in the US can make a chatbot of themselves<\/a>, with the idea being that users can send their bots in their place to chat with followers. Chatbot services like Character.ai have caught on in the last year<\/a> with people looking for a digital friend or just a way to pass the time \u2014 but AI companies are also facing lawsuits<\/a> accusing them of endangering users, including kids.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Meta didn\u2019t immediately respond to The Verge<\/em>\u2019s questions about the role of these profiles, whether they\u2019re actively being developed, and whether human users are even engaging with them.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n