“Sociable” is the newest commentary on vital social media developments and trends from industry expert Andrew Hutchinson of Social Media Today.
Meta has announced a spread of latest AI-based features at its 2023 Connect conference, headlined by its AI chat assistant tool, which is able to essentially integrate a ChatGPT-like bot inside all of Meta’s apps.
And what’s more, it’ll be available in several personalities, based on celebrity voices, with the intention to enhance familiarity and engagement.
There’s a heap to dig into and consider. Here’s a summary of all the important thing updates announced at Connect day one.
AI Chatbots
First off, as noted, the large announcement of the day, which Meta’s hoping will likely be its leap into generative AI, is its recent AI assistant.
As explained by Meta:
“Meta AI is a recent assistant you may interact with like an individual, available on WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, and coming soon to Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses and Quest 3. It’s powered by a custom model that leverages technology from Llama 2 and our latest large language model (LLM) research. In text-based chats, Meta AI has access to real-time information through our search partnership with Bing and offers a tool for image generation.”
Partnership with Bing? That’s unusual.
In a separate post, Microsoft outlined how Bing data will likely be shared with Meta AI:
“We’re thrilled to announce that we’ve begun to work with Meta to integrate Bing into Meta AI’s chat experiences enabling more timely and up-to-date answers with access to real-time search information. Bing’s integration extends to Meta AI and a couple of of Meta’s other AIs available to message with in WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram.”
So real-time information to fuel Meta’s AI responses. Wonder what Microsoft’s getting in return?
As you may see within the above example, the brand new AI chatbot will function very similar to you’d expect, providing the capability to ask questions, and get immediate answers to queries in-stream.
Which is just about according to the newest wave of AI chatbots, though it’s also value noting that Meta tried this very same thing back in 2015.
This was Meta’s first chat assistant tool, called “M”, which was designed to supply direct answers and prompts in-stream, and usher in the brand new age of chatbots on Messenger.
Except, it had problems, with the bot sometimes producing questionable replies, meaning it needed to be heavily monitored by actual humans with the intention to keep it in line.
Meta eventually ended the “M” experiment in 2018, as a consequence of high maintenance and low usage, with the latter being more of a priority for Meta at this stage, because it tries the identical again.
Of course, the brand new “M”, which will not be called “M”, but is just about the identical thing, will likely be powered by Meta’s more advanced AI, which should make it more invaluable. But will users be more receptive to such the second time around?
Meta’s not taking any probabilities, which is why it’s also giving its recent chatbot celebrity voices to boost the experience.
Meta’s recent chatbot experience will have the opportunity to interact with you within the communications kind of any of those celebrities, which Meta’s hoping will make it a more engaging, entertaining experience.
All in all, there are 28 characters you can interact with via Meta’s AI chatbot, with more to come back, including bots within the kind of Bear Grylls, Chloe Kim, and Josh Richards, amongst others.
Will that make it an even bigger hit this time around?
Personally, I even have my doubts, because it looks as if more of a gimmick, which is able to generate initial interest, for sure, but that’ll wear off quickly. But perhaps, with different characters, in several styles, that may offer you invaluable information, and more personalities on the best way, that might get more people engaging with AI bots in each app.
We’ll discover, with Meta’s recent AI chatbots rolling out in beta testing with chosen U.S. users from today.
AI Tools on IG
AI image editing can also be coming to Instagram, with a recent feature that’ll essentially add recent AI-driven filters for your posts.
So somewhat than simply adding a daily image filter, the brand new AI editing tools will enable you to recreate your uploads in a very different style.
“Restyle helps you to reimagine your images by applying the visual styles you describe. Think of typing a descriptor like “watercolor” or a more detailed prompt like “collage from magazines and newspapers, torn edges” to explain the brand new feel and appear of the image you desire to create.”
That could spark a spread of latest visual trends within the app, with easy prompts that might drive recent, artistic style movements, based on prompts. Brands could also use this to create customized, thematic visuals, which they might then apply to all of their uploads moving forward, by utilizing the identical prompt for each.
Though this second AI element could also be of much more value for brand use.
“Backdrop changes the scene or background of your image. Prompts like “put me in front of a sublime aurora borealis” or “surrounded by puppies” will cue the tool to create a picture of the first subject within the foreground with the background you described.”
That could possibly be a invaluable option for product photography, or customized model shots and examples, with brands in a position to create a consistent scene that they’ll use for each of their IG uploads.
It could possibly be a invaluable addition, and it’s going to likely see a number of experimentation and interest.
Generative AI Stickers
Meta’s also announced recent AI stickers, which is able to enable users to create custom digital stickers for chats and stories.
As you may see in this instance, now, on WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, and inside Facebook Stories, you’ll have the opportunity to make use of easy text prompts to create cartoonish stickers so as to add to your interactions.
As explained by Meta:
“Using technology from Llama 2 and our foundational model for image generation called Emu, our AI tool turns your text prompts into multiple unique, high-quality stickers in seconds.”
I mean, they don’t appear to be an enormous innovation, but Meta also notes that billions of stickers are sent across its apps every month, so that they could possibly be a invaluable option for many individuals.
Meta says that AI stickers will roll out to pick out English language users over the following month.
Create Your Own AI Bot
On one other front, Meta’s also launching a recent AI studio, which is able to enable people to create their very own AI engagement systems, based on their very own communication style and voice.
“Developers will have the opportunity to construct third-party AIs for our messaging services with our APIs in the approaching weeks, starting on Messenger then expanding to WhatsApp. Businesses can even have the opportunity to create AIs that reflect their brand’s values and improve customer support experiences.”
Depending on the info inputs required for such, this could possibly be a straightforward technique to integrate AI chatbots into your individual business interaction process, which could possibly be a invaluable engagement option, especially if more consumers turn out to be more accustomed to communication with these recent bot tools.
Ray-Ban Stories V.2
Meta’s also announced a new edition of its Ray-Ban Stories smart glasses, with improved hardware and battery life.
Also this:
“You can now livestream from the glasses to Facebook or Instagram. And you may see the comments in your preview, or tap and hold on the side of your glasses to listen to them out loud to have interaction together with your community as you’re living within the moment.”
That could possibly be a giant addition, which could make the device a more attractive option for online creators.
The recent Ray-Ban Stories glasses will start at $US299, and pre-orders are open now on meta.com and ray-ban.com. The glasses will likely be available for purchase online and in retail stores starting Oct. 17.
Quest 3
Finally, Meta also unveiled its recent Quest 3 VR headset.
The recent Quest 3, its most advanced VR unit yet, will likely be available to users from Oct. 10, with Meta hoping that it’ll be featured prominently on many Christmas wish lists.
Meta’s shared a spread of insights into the Quest 3 already, with the brand new headset to facilitate each VR and mixed reality experiences.
“Meta Quest 3 features breakthrough mixed reality that allows a spectrum of experiences. You can play a virtual piano in your coffee table or open a portal to a different dimension right in your front room — all while high-fidelity, full-color Passthrough keeps your physical surroundings in sight with over 10 times more pixels in comparison with Meta Quest 2.”
Meta’s hoping that this recent unit will turn out to be the usual for VR experiences, which can even help to guide users towards its next-level metaverse environment.
Also, that is interesting:
The Quest 3 starts at $US499.99 for the 128GB version, and $US649.99 for the 512GB model.
In addition to this, Meta also shared some temporary notes on its coming Meta Quest for Business platform, which is able to enable users to include various enterprise applications, including Microsoft 365 tools, right into a virtual office space. Meta hasn’t shared much info on this, however it’ll add one other angle to its broader VR push. Meta’s been developing skilled VR usage options since 2020.
A heap of updates to think about, with a spread of implications. Meta’s making a giant push on generative AI, which has been coming for a while, but whether users warm to those recent AI elements will likely be the large test for its expanding efforts on this front.
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