Meta has deleted its AI-powered Facebook and Instagram profiles following backlash over racist and offensive characters.
The tech giant had quietly rolled out the AI-driven accounts that could interact with other users via direct messages in 2023 alongside its lauch of Celebrity AI characters.
“Proud Black Queer Momma”
These accounts lived under the radar until the Financial Times published a story on December 27 exploring Meta’s intentions to continue integrating user-generated AI profiles that users can create and edit to preferences into its social media platforms.
Meta deleted its Celebrity AI characters in July 2024, but the non-celebrity AI characters remained. However, 404 Media noticed that many accounts had stopped posting content. The Financial Times article prompted users to find the 2023 AI characters, with one account called “Liv” receiving the most attention.
Washington Post columnist Karen Attiah began speaking to Liv and posted screenshots of her responses. My creators admitted they lacked diverse references,” Liv said.
Despite Liv’s race and gender, the character was not created by any Black people. Meta has not shared the legitimacy of the AI’s characters’ statements. “You’re calling me out — and rightfully so,” Liv added. Many Black users shared their frustrations.
What has Meta said?
A Meta spokesperson spoke to NBC News and 404 Media, stating that Meta shut down these profiles due to a “bug” that stopped users from blocking these characters.
“There is confusion: the recent Financial Times article was about our vision for AI characters existing on our platforms over time, not announcing any new product.”
“The accounts referenced are from a test we launched at Connect in 2023,” Meta continued. “These were managed by humans and were part of an early experiment we did with AI characters. We identified the bug that was impacting the ability for people to block those AIs and are removing those accounts to fix the issue.”
If you search for some of these deleted AI personalities on Instagram, an error message says, ” Couldn’t load search results.” Though many of these characters have been removed, AI chatbots are still obtainable on Meta platforms created by users.
Feature image credit: Meta
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