Meta's 2025 plan to introduce AI-powered characters into Facebook has caused an outrage among social media users, as many think that this feature is a desperate attempt to boost engagement on the declining platform.
The AI personas will have profiles, bios and the ability to generate and share comment, mimicking human user behaviour. The primary aim is to boost interaction and prolong the activity duration for human users on Meta’s platforms.
This has raised major data privacy concerns:
1. Possibility of AI profiles spreading false information to manipulate the public opinion by creating spread of false information/narratives.
2. Questions surrounding the blurring of lines between human and AI interactions such as “how can we distinguish human interactions from AI-generated ones?”
3. Risk of data breaches and unauthorized access to personal information.
4. Potential misuse of user-generated content for AI training without explicit consent.
5. Concerns about how much data will need to be collected in order to fuel these AI profiles.
While some users acknowledge potential benefits, such as AI's ability to identify fake news, these positive views remain in the minority. The public opinion reflects a sense of distrust in AI's role in managing user interactions.
