Play D&D With Snoop Dogg: Meta Fuses Chatbots With Celebrities
Get ready to encounter chatbots based on human celebrities.
At Meta Connect today, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the feature will let users interact with celebs like football quarterback Tom Brady, model Kendall Jenner, and rapper Snoop Dogg—but in chatbot form. "I think this is going to transform how people use all of our products," he said.
Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, is rolling out access to the 28 celebrity chatbots to US users as a beta. That said, don’t expect the technology to accurately reflect each celebrity.
Instead, the company’s goal is to create specialized chatbots dedicated to specific areas, such as fitness, cooking tips, or dance, while giving them some personality. Meta then fused each program to a famous personality to make the technology more appealing. The result is a collection of custom chatbots that’ll show the celebrities' expressions as you interact with them.
In a demo, Zuckerberg showed the Dungeon Master chatbot, which features Snoop Dogg dressed up as a grizzled warrior. Through the program, you can play text-based Dungeons & Dragons games while Snoop Dogg reacts to the adventure.
“This is about entertainment, and about helping you do things to connect you to the people around you,” Zuckerberg said in introducing the technology. For example, a separate chatbot called Victor that uses retired NBA player Dwyane Wade’s visage, can help you plan a workout.
Although Zuckerberg said he’s optimistic about the technology, he also plans on rolling it out slowly to users, noting the company is building technology with safety in mind. It’s why the programs don’t have access to real-time information. Nor do they speak in the celebrity’s voice or use their name. But Zuckerberg says the
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