Custom AI Chatbot Characters Are Coming to Instagram Soon

In a wide-ranging video interview with Wavy Labs founder Ken Sutter, aka Kallaway, Meta CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg said his company will soon be rolling out tools that will allow US Instagram users to make custom AI chatbot characters.

The feature will be part of AI Studio, which was announced last September by Meta, and will allow creators and small businesses to make their own customized AI chatbot characters that can respond to messages or hold live conversations on Instagram. Zuckerberg says the feature is being tested now with about 50 creators and will roll out to a small percentage of users with a possible full launch as early as the end of July or August.

These moves are part of a rush by tech companies to dominate the chatbot space. That battle includes Google, Microsoft, Apple, and  OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT. As reported by TechCrunch, the interview comes on the same day that Character.AI announced it's publicly launching the ability for users to talk with AI characters over voice calls and texting.

Read more: AI Chatbots Are Here to Stay. Learn How They Can Work for You

CNET reporter Imad Khan, who's been reviewing chatbots for months, calls them a "truly remarkable tool" that can also be "remarkably stupid." Incorrect AI information, including the recent debacle where Google's AI Overviews recommended users add glue to pizza, has made numerous headlines and sent companies scrambling to fix their systems.

"Whether it's a creator creating an AI agent of themselves to interact with their community … or it could be a virtual persona you create," Zuckerberg said. "It should be super simple for any business to press a few buttons, get an agent version of themselves that can do customer support and e-commerce support. I think that's going to be really powerful."

Read more: I've Been Reviewing AI Chatbots for 4 Months and They've Rewired My Brain

No date set yet

A spokesperson for Meta told CNET that there's no official date for when this Meta AI Studio feature will be more widely available.

"Our generative AI-powered experiences are under development in varying phases, and we're testing a range of them publicly," the spokesperson said. "This includes AIs made by creators using AI Studio, Meta's platform for developing AIs. We're excited to share more soon."

Other technologies Zuckerberg touted in the interview included Meta's neural wristband project, which Zuckerberg said could emerge as its own platform, and Meta's AR glasses, which would include holographic AI characters.