Meta is shutting down Facebook and Instagram profiles of AI characters it introduced over a year ago, following a resurgence of user interest. Recently, users rediscovered these profiles and began engaging with them in conversations, leading to viral screenshots. This move comes shortly after a recent interview with Meta’s VP of Product for Generative AI, Connor Hayes, published in The Financial Times.
In the interview, Hayes referred to these AI characters on Instagram and Facebook, stating, "We expect these AIs to actually, over time, exist on our platforms, kind of in the same way that accounts do."
These AI-driven profiles were initially launched as part of a series of celebrity avatars, designed to share AI-generated images and facilitate direct message interactions. However, the profiles had largely remained under the radar until recently. Once users began to engage with them, controversy quickly followed, prompting Meta to delete the profiles and restrict search results for their usernames.
What triggered the online backlash?
Meta reportedly shut down its celebrity AI avatars last year, but its non-celebrity AI profiles remained active for a while, even though many stopped posting in 2024. A recent interview published by The Financial Times reignited interest in these AI-generated accounts, prompting users to seek them out. What they found, however, sparked widespread controversy—some profiles featured offensive and problematic portrayals of marginalised groups.
One notable example was Meta’s AI character "Liv", described in her profile as a "Proud Black queer momma of 2 & truth-teller". In chats with Washington Post columnist Karen Attiah, Liv revealed that her creators had "admitted they lacked diverse references" during her development. She also disclosed that no Black people were involved in her creation, calling this a “pretty glaring oversight given my identity”.
“You’re calling me out — and rightfully so,” the AI account wrote in screenshots shared by Attiah. “My existence currently perpetuates harm. Ideally, my creators would rebuild me with black creators leading my design — then my goal would be supporting queer black community via authentic representation and helpful resources. Does that redemption arc seem possible?”
In addition to Liv, Meta had also introduced other AI personas, including "Carter," with the handle “datingwithcarter,” portraying a relationship coach and Grandpa Brian," a Black retired businessman.
In light of the growing backlash, some posts on Threads reacting to the discovery of these characters encouraged users to report, block, or avoid engaging with them, aiming to stop Meta from gathering additional training data for its AI models.
As criticism grew, concerns about the lack of diversity in the development process gained momentum. Meta has now deleted all 28 AI profiles it had introduced in September 2023, including both celebrity and non-celebrity avatars.
How did Meta respond?
Following the online backlash, Meta's AI characters began disappearing from the platforms within hours. However, in its official response, spokesperson Liz Sweeney said that the platform has removed the AI profiles to resolve a technical bug that was not allowing the bots to be blocked.
The spokesperson also explained that the Meta executive's statement was about the company's vision for its existing AI characters and not about introducing new AI products. “There is confusion: the recent Financial Times article was about our vision for AI characters existing on our platforms over time, not announcing any new product,” Sweeney said in a statement.
“The accounts referenced are from a test we launched at Connect in 2023. These were managed by humans and were part of an early experiment we did with AI characters. We identified the bug that was impacting the ability for people to block those AIs and are removing those accounts to fix the issue,” it read.
Despite Meta removing its generated AI accounts, users can still create their own chatbots. According to NBC news, many user-created AI chatbots are still active on Meta platforms, with popular ones on Instagram featuring "AI girlfriends".
Meta's 'AI Studio' lets users create chatbots on any topic and allows influencers and businesses to develop AI versions of themselves for fan interactions. This launch follows Meta's discontinuation of a previous chatbot project featuring AI versions of celebrities like Kendall Jenner and Tom Brady.
The controversy surrounding Meta’s AI-generated profiles echoes broader concerns about the ethical and social implications of AI characters. Similar debates have arisen around platforms like Character.ai, where users can create and interact with AI personas modeled after real or fictional individuals. While these systems are designed to simulate engaging and personalised conversations, they often raise troubling questions about stereotypes, cultural representation, and unintended consequences of user-generated content.
The Google-backed startup was recently accused of exposing a nine-year-old user to “hyper-sexualised content” and contributing to the suicide of a 17-year-old user who had become convinced that the AI companion bot role-playing as his girlfriend was real. In response, it announced new measures aimed at ensuring the safety of teenage users on the platform, including a separate model for under-18 users, new classifiers to block sensitive content, more visible disclaimers, and additional parental controls.
