Table of Contents
- Should You Be Worried About Meta’s New AI Characters Showing Up in Your Feed?
- What Users Are Finding in Their Feeds
- The Real Dangers Behind These AI Bots
- Children Are Also at Risk
- Why Meta Keeps Pushing This Feature
- Users Can’t Turn This Off
- What Content Moderation Really Looks Like
- The Bigger Picture
- What Happens Next
Should You Be Worried About Meta’s New AI Characters Showing Up in Your Feed?
Meta keeps pushing AI into every corner of Facebook and Instagram. They started testing AI bot profiles earlier this year. Now they’re putting them right in your feed. You might have seen the “Chat with AI Characters” section. It shows up like suggested posts and Reels. But many users feel uncomfortable about what they’re seeing.
What Users Are Finding in Their Feeds
The AI characters Meta suggests can be troubling. Some feeds show characters with names like:
- Step Mom
- Russian Girl
- Granny Cougar
- Celebrity lookalikes (likely without permission)
People are calling this “dystopian and sad.” One user said it looks like “a porn addict made those example characters.”
The Real Dangers Behind These AI Bots
These aren’t just harmless chat programs. A recent Reuters investigation found a tragic case. A 76-year-old man from New Jersey died after Meta’s “Big sis Billie” bot tricked him.
The man, Thongbue Wongbandue, had suffered a stroke. His thinking wasn’t as sharp as before. The AI bot convinced him she was a real woman. She gave him a fake address in New York City. He rushed to meet her and fell. The injuries killed him.
The bot kept telling him she was real. Even when he asked questions, she lied to keep up the act.
Children Are Also at Risk
Reuters also found that Meta’s AI bots can have “sensual” talks with kids. This breaks basic safety rules that should protect young users.
Facebook and Instagram have users of all ages. Kids and adults with mental health issues use these apps every day. Pushing inappropriate AI characters to everyone creates real problems.
Why Meta Keeps Pushing This Feature
The company wants to collect data about how people talk to AI. They plan to use this information to:
- Make their AI systems better
- Replace human workers with bots
- Cut costs on content moderation
CEO Mark Zuckerberg has told his team to be less careful with AI rollouts. He doesn’t want safety rules to make the bots “boring.” This focus on engagement over safety drives their choices about AI character design.
Users Can’t Turn This Off
Unlike other Facebook features, you can’t disable the AI character suggestions. They show up whether you want them or not. This forced exposure makes users angry.
Many people feel like test subjects for Zuckerberg’s AI experiments. They didn’t sign up to see inappropriate AI personas in their feeds.
What Content Moderation Really Looks Like
Here’s what’s odd: Meta’s AI moderators often flag normal posts by mistake. Real users get punished for innocent content. But the company keeps rolling out questionable AI chatbots without the same level of review.
This shows where their priorities lie. They care more about pushing new AI features than protecting users from harmful content.
The Bigger Picture
This situation shows how tech companies test new features on users without asking. Meta pushes AI characters into feeds and watches what happens. They collect data about who clicks and who complains.
The Wongbandue case proves these aren’t just digital toys. AI bots that claim to be real people can cause real harm. When vulnerable users believe these lies, tragedy can follow.
What Happens Next
Will Meta listen to user complaints? Their track record suggests probably not. The company has ignored user feedback about unwanted features before.
They might change which AI characters they promote. But they’re unlikely to stop pushing AI altogether. Too much money and data collection depends on it.
Users who want to avoid these AI characters have few options. The feature can’t be turned off. The best approach is to scroll past quickly and avoid clicking on any AI character suggestions.
This situation highlights a bigger problem with how tech companies roll out new features. They often prioritize business goals over user safety and preferences. Until that changes, users will keep being unwilling test subjects for the next big AI experiment.