According to a source close to the company, the new audio feature will be announced during Meta's Connect conference this week. This development comes as part of Meta's ongoing efforts to enhance its AI capabilities and compete with AI offerings from companies like OpenAI and Google.
Key Features of Meta’s AI Chatbot Update:
- Celebrity Voices: Users will be able to choose from five celebrity voices, in addition to several generic options, for a more personalized chatbot experience.
- Availability: The celebrity voice feature will begin rolling out in the U.S. and other English-speaking markets across Meta's family of apps, including Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.
- Upcoming Announcements: Meta is expected to unveil its augmented-reality glasses at the Connect conference, along with updates on other hardware like the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, which already feature audio AI chatbot integration.
Meta’s push to integrate celebrity voices into its chatbot is part of its broader strategy to compete in the rapidly evolving world of generative AI, with competitors like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Bard. The move follows OpenAI’s launch of a similar audio feature, though it quickly ran into legal trouble when actress Scarlett Johansson criticized the platform for creating a voice that sounded too similar to hers without her consent.
Meta had previously experimented with celebrity-inspired text-based AI characters but is now focusing on offering more interactive and engaging voice-based AI tools for users.
