Tuesday 01 August 2023 2:40 pm | Updated: Tuesday 01 August 2023 2:41 pm

Meta to launch AI-powered chatbots in a bid to cling on to users

TMT Reporter

WASHINGTON, DC - OCTOBER 23: With an image of himself on a screen in the background, Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg testifies before the House Financial Services Committee in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill October 23, 2019 in Washington, DC. Zuckerberg testified about Facebook's proposed cryptocurrency Libra, how his company will handle false and misleading information by political leaders during the 2020 campaign and how it handles its users’ data and privacy. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Meta, the parent company of Facebook, is reportedly gearing up to deploy a squadron of artificial intelligence-powered chatbots, each with their own distinctive personalities, in an effort to cling on to its users who have been dwindling lately.

Meta has been crafting prototypes for these chatbots, aptly named “personas”, the Financial Times reported today, citing sources familiar with the plans.

The launch of these chatbots is expected as early as next month, as the tech giant tries to keep pace with the AI frenzy that has engulfed Silicon Valley since OpenAI unveiled ChatGPT last year.

Recently Meta unveiled Llama 2, a large language model that can generate text and could power its new chatbots.

Meta’s new personas are designed to grab and hold the attention of its 4bn users, as competition with other social media platforms hots up.

It’s newest social media experiment, ‘Threads’, gained 100m sign ups in under a week, but the number of active users quickly fell, dropping by 70 per cent within a month.

Meta did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the report.