Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, revealed its latest AI product containing quite a few familiar faces, but people are unimpressed.
On Wednesday at Meta's Connect conference, Zuckerberg unveiled Meta's new AI assistant at its headquarters in Menlo Park, California.
The digital assistant has drawn comparisons to ChatGPT, where the program generates in-depth and detailed answers to text queries. What makes it different from other AI assistants, however, is that the assistants have faces of celebrities such as Paris Hilton, Kendall Jenner, and Mr. Beast. The various celebrities partnered with Meta to introduce its "cast of characters".
For example, Billie - portrayed by Kendall Jenner - is described as your "No-BS, ride-or-die companion". Roy Choi, a Korean-American chef, plays Max, a "seasoned sous chef for culinary tips and tricks". Each character has also been given their own profile on Instagram and Facebook.
Zuckerberg posted the announcement in a video to his Instagram and Facebook profiles, involving him and his family displaying their poor acting skills, as well as Kendall Jenner, Tom Brady, Charli D'Amelio, Snoop Dogg, and Dwayne Wade as their AI assistant characters.
But whilst Zuckerberg seemed impressed with the new product, most viewers did not share the same sentiments.
Host of Corporate Gossip podcast Becca Platsky posted her reaction to the announcement video, calling it the "cringiest AI of all time".
"There's something this product gets so wrong about the way people interact with influencers," Platsky says. "And one thing is influencer snark. That drives a lot of engagement to real life influencers, but nobody's gonna snark on a robot!"
She also said, "I'm also not sure how many people are going to want to give Kendall Jenner more money for doing less work."
Comments under Platsky's TikTok overwhelmingly agreed. Some called it "embarrassing" whilst another user said it felt "like an SNL skit."
"I feel like they think we care about celebrities more than we actually do," commented another user.
The criticism didn't stop there though, with many commenting under Zuckerberg's announcement letting him now their thoughts.
One user called it "depressing" and said "adding more AI to talk to on [an] everyday basis, this is just loneliness amplified."
Another gave Zuckerberg the advice to "fire everyone in your staff that failed to tell you how monumentally stupid this video is." Adding, "who the hell needs to chat to AI friends that look like celebrities?"
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