SAUL LOEB/AFPIn a bid to reel in the Gen Z demographic, Facebook is rolling out AI chatbots, dubbed Gen AI Personas, across its platforms, featuring personalities like a sarcastic robot modeled on Bender fromthat Meta, the tech giant formerly known as Facebook, is embarking on a new mission to capture the Gen Z audience by introducing witty and sarcastic AI chatbots, or Gen AI Personas, across its various applications.
Facebook’s approach starkly contrasts with that of Snapchat, which has experienced moderate success with its AI chatbot, My AI. Snapchat’s generative AI allows users to interact and shape the bot’s character with their prompts, creating a trend of users challenging the bot with stressful prompts and sharing the amusing results on TikTok.
However, a growing number of Gen Z users find AI bots to be invasive and express concerns over privacy and potential data collection. Videos labeling AI bots as “creepy” have gone viral, reflecting the prevailing apprehensions about the technology and its implications on user privacy. Facebook’s endeavor to engage younger users is a strategic move to shed its older Boomer brand image and establish itself as the “North Star” for young people online. With only 3.4 percent of Facebook users and eight percent of Instagram users falling in the 13-17 age category, the stakes are high for Facebook to cultivate a robust presence among young adults and teenagers.