There's a new way to create an AI version of yourself, and it's easier than ever.
Meta has announced it started rolling AI Studio out to people in the U.S. It's a tool that lets users create AI-fied versions of themselves, or custom AI characters of any sort.
There are two ways to interact with AI Studio; you can either go to ai.meta.com/ai-studio or just use the Instagram app on your phone. On Instagram, all you have to do is open messaging, start a new message, and then tap on "Create an AI chat."
You will then be led through a character creation wizard which will let you set your AI character's name, personality, tone, avatar, and tagline. Meta actually created an 18-page "AI Studio Handbook," a PDF document with instructions on how to make the most of AI Studio.
The AI character that you create is more than just an AI-fied avatar; it's an actual AI-powered character that has specific knowledge and personality. You can even set topics you don't want your AI bot to talk about, or accounts you don't want it to interact with. And yeah, responses from AI characters are labeled as such, so you can't have an AI actually take your place and interact with people while pretending to be you.
To show off what this tool can do, Meta listed a couple of characters created by celebs and professionals such as chef Marc Murphy or photographer and videographer Angel Barclay.
There's a pretty big caveat to all this, though: It only works for users in the U.S. This means that users in, say, Europe, will not be able to create their own characters, but it also means they won't even be able to see the AI characters created by others, including the ones listed above. The European Union, in particular, has a specific set of rules when it comes to AI, and companies such as Meta and Apple are taking it very slow when it comes to anything AI in Europe.
