Meta’s AI-Powered ‘Personas’ Might Be Coming in September

Meta could be launching its latest fascination much sooner than expected.

The tech giant is reportedly preparing to launch its AI-powered "personas" on its various social media platforms as soon as next month.

Meta first hinted at developing the project sometime in late February, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealing it to the public through his Facebook post.

Meta Personas Release Rumors

Meta's Personas could be coming in sometime in September to Meta's services, like Facebook and Instagram, per a report from the Financial Times citing three company insiders.

These personas give Meta service users a new way to search, get recommendations, and engage with Meta's products. They could also come with distinct personalities, such as one that offers travel recommendations like a stereotypical surfer would; it even has one that speaks like Abraham Lincoln.

Regardless of the voice they come with, these Personas' functions include new search functionality and suggestion-giving, which further boosts user engagement with Meta's services.

Additionally, Zuckerberg's post in February mentioned that these personas could help users of its services in the foreseeable future. They could help users chat with people on WhatsApp and Messenger, create Instagram filters and formats, and even help with video and multi-modal experiences.

Additionally, Zuckerberg's post in February mentioned that these personas could help users of its services in the foreseeable future. They could help users chat with people on WhatsApp and Messenger, create Instagram filters and formats, and even help with video and multi-modal experiences.

According to a report from The Verge, Meta's reported launch of Personas could help the company in two ways. The first is boosting engagement with its social media platform users; the second is a display of the company's AI capabilities as it competes with OpenAI and Google Bard.

In the meantime, however, Meta service users can expect that the company's Personas will help users build creative and expressive tools. Interestingly enough, app researcher Alessandro Paluzzi spotted signs of Meta's work on its Personas in the form of a new "Chat with an AI feature" in Instagram. According to the app researcher, the AI Persona in question could answer questions and give advice in the style of 30 different AI personalities.

Whether Meta will launch its Personas for its various services in September is still debatable, but its development will help the company catch up with its competitors and join the AI craze that started in Dec. 2022.

A Deeper Look Into Meta's Personas

Meta's Personas may sound like a glorified chatbot with personalities, but it's more than that if Meta's Developers page is to be believed. According to a Meta for Developers page, the Persona could be backed by a human agent or a bot, which will allow conversations to be passed from bots to human agents seamlessly.

To develop these Personas, Zuckerberg pulled together the teams working on generative AI across the company into one group. He then has them focused on building "delightful experiences around this technology into all of [Meta's] different products."

Meta isn't new to developing some level of user-facing AI. It previously introduced chatbots to Messenger in 2016 for businesses to use (which they did to the fullest), per Engadget.