After watching its AI chatbot versions of Snoop Dogg, Kendall Jenner, and Tom Brady flop, Meta is now trying a more personal approach.
What happened: The tech giant rolled out a new feature, dubbed “AI Studio,” to U.S. businesses this week. The tool lets users build a custom chatbot that can talk directly with customers on Meta’s social media platforms, answer questions, and respond to comments.
- CEO Mark Zuckerberg is largely pitching the new tool as a way for business owners and content creators with limited capacity to engage with users on their behalf.
- AI Studio has similarities to OpenAI’s GPT Store, which offers free custom chatbots for all kinds of tasks, including business-specific ones like SEO assistants.
Why it matters: Having an AI chatbot that can interact with customers online is an affordable and potentially effective way for small businesses to leverage AI in their day-to-day — and even sell products, ideally without promising nonexistent deals.
Bottom line: Other companies like Character.AI have already proven there’s demand for more personalized, custom chatbots. With Meta’s 3 billion-plus global users, it could very well become a catalyst for these personalized bots.—LA