Meta Platforms Inc. is moving to delete a collection of artificial intelligence profiles it created on Facebook and Instagram in 2023. 

Axios reported the move today. It comes a few days after an interview given by a Meta executive brought renewed attention to the AI-powered profiles, which led to a social media backlash against the feature.

In August 2023, Meta rolled out a bevy of generative AI features to its social media platforms. The update was headlined by the release Meta AI, the company’s answer to ChatGPT. The chatbot features a built-in image generator and a Bing integration that allows users to search the web without opening a new tab.

Alongside Meta AI, the company rolled out 28 AI-powered Facebook and Instagram profiles. Most were inspired by celebrities with whom Meta partnered on the project. The celebrity-inspired profiles were quietly scrapped last August as a result of lackluster user interest, while about a dozen AI-powered accounts remained online. Those remaining accounts are the focus of this week’s controversy.

The profiles in question displayed a label that read “AI managed by Meta.” They featured a mix of machine-generated and human-created posts, as well as a tool that allowed users to chat with the AI. Users didn’t have a way to block content from the accounts.

Meta’s AI-powered profiles entered the spotlight last week after Connor Hayes, the company’s vice president of product for generative AI, discussed them in an interview with the Financial Times. “We expect these AIs to actually, over time, exist on our platforms, kind of in the same way that accounts do,” Hayes told the paper. “They’ll have bios and profile pictures and they’ll be able to generate and share content powered by AI on the platform. That’s where we see all of this going.”

Meta’s plan quickly drew criticism from social media users. In response, the company has pledged to delete the profiles and issued a statement saying “the accounts referenced are from a test we launched at Connect in 2023. 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.”

Generative AI continues to be a major focus for Meta. In July, it launched a tool that allows users to create AI chatbots capable of interacting with other users. The chatbots’ output can be customized by providing them with information and website links for use in prompt responses.

Meta’s AI investments also extend beyond its core social media business. Last April, the company rolled out a feature to its smart glasses that allows users to point out an object in their field of view and ask an AI to find relevant information. In July, Meta added a similar capability to its Quest 3 virtual reality headset. 

Photo: Wikimedia Commons