Meta is rolling out major upgrades to its AI assistant across Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, adding celebrity voice options and advanced image capabilities.
The company announced at its Meta Connect 2024 event that users will soon be able to converse with Meta AI using the voices of popular celebrities. The initial lineup includes actors John Cena, Awkwafina, Kristen Bell, Keegan-Michael Key, and Dame Judi Dench. This feature will first launch in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
According to reports, Meta paid each celebrity millions of dollars for the use of their AI-generated voices. The deals reportedly involved negotiations around usage limitations and liability concerns.
Beyond voice interactions, Meta AI is gaining new visual intelligence abilities:
- Users can now share photos with the AI and ask questions about the contents
- The AI can provide recipes when shown images of food dishes
- Photo editing capabilities allow users to request changes like outfit alterations or background replacements
- For Instagram Stories, Meta AI can suggest custom AI-generated backgrounds to complement shared photos
Meta is also expanding translation features, with AI-powered automatic dubbing and lip-syncing for creator videos, starting with Latin American content translated to English and Spanish.
These updates leverage Meta's latest large language models, including vision-enabled versions of Llama 3 optimized for mobile devices. The company is partnering with chip makers and cloud providers to make these models more accessible to developers and enterprises.
As AI assistants become more capable and personalized, Meta's latest moves signal an escalating battle among tech giants to create the most engaging and useful AI companions integrated into popular apps and services. The addition of celebrity voices and advanced visual skills could give Meta an edge in user adoption and engagement across its massive social platforms.
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