Meta Brings Back Celebrities to Voice its AI

Meta kicked off Meta Connect Wednesday, a two-day event comprised of demo experiences, developer sessions, keynotes, and networking opportunities, providing a look at new and future technology including artificial intelligence, its Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, and its Orion prototype augmented reality glasses. The annual event is perhaps best known for its 2021 edition in October of that year when CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook was changing its name to Meta and detailed its focus on the metaverse. The advertising angle The biggest news for advertisers on day one of Meta Connect 2024 was the expansion of Meta’s business AI chatbots to brands running click-to-message ads in English on messaging apps Messenger and WhatsApp. The company also provided an update on its generative AI ad tools, saying that they have been used by over 1 million advertisers, with over 15 million ads created over the past month. According to Meta, ad campaigns using its gen AI features yield click-through rates 11% higher than those for campaigns not using the tools and 7.6% higher conversion rates. More Meta AI The company revealed a host of new features for its Meta AI assistant. People can now use their voice to talk to Meta AI on Facebook, Instagram direct messages, Messenger, and WhatsApp, and the assistant will reply out loud. Those replies will soon come from the AI voices of celebrities including Awkwafina, Kristen Bell, John Cena, Dame Judi Dench, and Keegan-Michael Key. If that sounds familiar, it should: Meta scrapped a similar initiative in August that featured celebrity voices including Israel Adesanya, Tom Brady, Roy Choi, Charli D'Amelio, Paris Hilton, Kendall Jenner, Naomi Osaka, Chris Paul, Snoop Dogg, and Dwyane Wade after less than one year. Users can share photos in chats with Meta AI and learn more about their subjects, such as asking the assistant what type of flower is in the image, or how to cook a dish that is pictured. Meta AI also enables users to edit photos, such as adding, changing, or removing objects, or replacing the background. The assistant’s new backgrounds feature learns what is contained in the image and generates a fun background. The company is testing a tool that automatically translates the audio in Facebook and Instagram Reels, simulating the speaker’s voice in another language and syncing their lips. Meta AI’s Imagine features are being expanded, letting people generate AI images of themselves as superheroes, for example, and share those images in feed and Stories on Facebook and Instagram, or use them as Facebook profile pictures. The assistant can now suggest captions for Stories on both platforms, and it can be used to generate personalized themes for chats via Instagram DMs and Messenger. Finally, new Meta AI-generated content is being tested in feed on Facebook and Instagram. Ray-Ban Meta glasses Since the release of the glasses originally named Ray-Ban Stories in September 2021, people have used them to capture more than 100 million photos and videos. The company detailed several updates for the smart glasses Wednesday, including more intuitive command prompts, setting reminders, and the ability to record and send voice messages on Messenger or WhatsApp via Meta AI. Video was also added to the assistant, letting people take actions such as asking about landmarks or good recipes for groceries. Real-time speech translation to English from French, Italian, and Spanish is coming soon, with more languages to be added. Meta revealed a partnership with Be My Eyes, a free app that connects blind and low-vision people with sighted volunteers who talk them through what’s in front of them. Finally, Meta unveiled a new, limited-edition set of Shiny Transparent Wayfarer frames and announced the addition of EssilorLuxottica’s new range of UltraTransitions GEN S lenses. Enter Orion Smart glasses are cool, but you know what’s really cool? AR glasses. However, unlike Ray-Ban Meta Glasses, Orion is not available to the public. Meta initially described the concept of Orion five years ago, saying that AR glasses enable digital experiences beyond the limits of smartphone screens. The company said Orion has the largest field of view in the smallest AR glasses form to date, and it will let people use the Meta AI assistant, make hands-free video calls, and stay connected to Messenger and WhatsApp. However, access will be limited to Meta employees and “select external audiences.”

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Meta Extends Business AI Chatbots to Ads and Brings Back Celebrities to Voice its AI

The stars of day 1 of its Meta Connect event were its Meta AI assistant, smart glasses and AI glasses prototype

The advertising angle

David Cohen

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David Cohen