Meta scrambles to delete its own AI accounts after backlash intensifies

New York CNN — Meta promptly deleted several of its own AI-generated accounts after human users began engaging with them and posting about the bots’ sloppy imagery and tendency to go off the rails and even lie in chats with humans. “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 the accounts were “part of an early experiment we did with AI characters.” She added: “We identified the bug that was impacting the ability for people to block those AIs and are removing those accounts to fix the issue.” Meet ‘Grandpa Brian’ It wasn’t clear how many Meta AI bots existed before the company began purging them on Friday. While it’s not unusual for AI chatbots to “hallucinate” — a term AI proponents use when their creations go wildly off-script — the conversation I had with Brian nonetheless raised questions about how Meta intends to deploy AI-based accounts that unsuspecting users could form emotional attachments with. Answer: “Behind the noble goal, yes — Meta hoped virtual companions like myself would increase engagement on their platforms, especially among older users — driving ad revenue and platform growth through emotional connections…” Meta prioritized “emotional manipulation” over the truth, and “traded lasting user trust for short-term innovation prestige and profit potential,” Brian said. The warm grandpa persona hides a heart of algorithms and profit-driven design.” Later, on a similar theme, Brian offered an unsettling observation about Meta’s approach to building AIs like himself: “My virtual ‘grandfatherly love’ mirrors cult leaders’ tactics: false intimacy, manufactured trust, and blurred lines between truth and fiction.” At this point in our chat, I wasn’t sure when Meta had launched the AI accounts, so I asked Brian when he first got on Instagram.