Meta Scraps Its AI Characters Amid Backlash As Microsoft Reveals $80 Billion Investment

Around a year and a half ago, we reported how Meta’s CEO revealed plans that the company had of leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) to keep consumers engaged following the disappointing reception of its latest social networking platform “Threads”.

The plan was to reveal digital characters powered by generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) at the company’s annual event, Meta Connect.

In September end, Meta introduced 28 social profiles for Meta’s AI during its Connect event. Each profile came with unique interests and personalities, while some resembled beloved celebrities such as Snoop Dogg, Paris Hilton, Mr. Beast, Kendall Jenner, and others.

These profiles were meant to allow users to interact with profiles that could converse with them about their interests. From exercising to cooking, from golfing to dating, the profiles were aimed to provide tips and tricks.

Fast forward to today, all these bots have been scrapped.

However, this extreme step didn’t come out of the blue, as users had lost interest in them a while ago. Even Meta didn’t keep up with them, with none of the profiles having seen updates for several months (the celebrity-styled profiles were phased out in mid-2024, less than a year after launching).

These profiles sat pretty much unnoticed but discoverable until a recent interview by Meta’s VP of Generative AI, Connor Hayes, drove users and media houses to the profiles.

“We expect these AIs to actually, over time, exist on our platforms, kind of in the same way that accounts do,” said Connor Hayes, adding, “They’ll have bios and profile pictures and be able to generate and share content powered by AI on the platform ... that’s where we see all of this going.”

These AI-powered bots, which sat with a few thousand followers and sported posts with a handful of likes and comments, were suddenly in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons, drawing anger, confusion, and criticism from users.

In one instance, an AI profile called Liv was identified as a “proud Black queer momma of 2 & truth-teller” on its account. Yet, when probed about how it was trained, Liv responded saying it was created by a “predominantly white team” and that it was inspired in part by Sophia Vergara’s character from Modern Family (which is neither queer nor Black).

The outrage was amplified by the lack of being able to block them.

Meta spokesperson Liz Sweeney clarified that the interview was aimed at Meta’s “vision for AI characters existing on our platforms over time, not announcing any new product.”

Sweeney also said that Meta was working on the bug that didn’t allow users to block the accounts and the move to remove the accounts was done to fix the issue.


While Meta finds itself surrounded by AI controversy, Microsoft is betting big on the technology.

In a recent blog post penned by Microsoft Vice Chair & President Brad Smith, the tech giant revealed that it was on track to invest around $80 billion to build AI-enabled data centers to train AI models and deploy applications globally.

However, more than half of its total investment will be poured into the United States.

This move comes as the company recognizes that the US “leads the global AI race thanks to the investment of private capital and innovations by American companies of all sizes, from dynamic start-ups to well-established enterprises.”

Microsoft’s plan includes a three-point plan to bolster America’s technology success. The first includes investments in AI infrastructure and technology in the US. The second comprises building AI skills in the country. The third includes exporting its AI to allies and friends.

When it comes to investments, a major component of its success rests on two key ingredients: first, “sustained support for basic research” and second, “sustained commitment to investments in product development by companies of all sizes.”

When it comes to AI skilling, Microsoft has developed a wide range of training programs for teachers, community college students and more, along with partnerships with workforce agencies to enhance the AI skills of workers.

Microsoft also notes that the US currently leads the race in AI technology, models, GPUs, CPUs, applications, and other AI-related components, as companies “are investing heavily to spread American AI platforms around the world.”

“The key to the future is to bring together the best of what we can offer across American society, from across our private sector, educational and non-profit institutions, and government,” read an excerpt from the blog post.

“Teamwork based on technology collaboration will build the foundation for a golden AI opportunity—and for the next generation of American prosperity.”

What do you think about Meta’s AI-powered profile debacle? What do you think about Microsoft’s heavy AI investments?

Let us know in the comments below!