Google is reportedly constructing new AI-powered chatbots based mostly on celebrities and YouTube influencers. The thought isn’t groundbreaking — startups like Character.ai and firms like Meta have merchandise like this — however neither is up to now.
Google’s superstar chatbots can be powered by the corporate’s Gemini household of huge language fashions based on The Info, which on Monday. The corporate is making an attempt to strike partnerships with influencers in addition to celebrities, and can also be engaged on a function that can let folks create their very own chatbots just by describing their personalities and look — one thing that Character.ai already . A enjoyable truth: Noam Shazeer, one of many co-founders of Character.ai, is a former Google engineer and of “transformers,” the elemental tech that made immediately’s generative AI attainable.
It isn’t but clear which celebrities or influencers Google would possibly associate with. Meta’s chatbots, as an example, are based mostly on personalities like TikTok star Charli D’Amelio, YouTube phenomenon Mr. Beast, Snoop Dogg, Tom Brady and Paris Hilton amongst others, whereas Character.ai’s characters embrace politicians, philosophers, fictional characters, and even objects like a block of cheese that talks. Google’s mission is reportedly being led by a longtime government referred to as Ryan Germick who works on Google Doodles, and a group of ten.
It additionally seems like Google’s bots might be simply an experiment — based on the report, the bots would possibly solely present up on Google Labs, the corporate’s web site for experimental merchandise, as an alternative of being out there extra broadly.
It isn’t clear why Google’s doing this. Meta’s AI chatbots based mostly on celebrities by no means actually took off regardless of the corporate stuffing them in each product it makes. As The Info identified, the corporate’s chatbot based mostly on Snoop Dogg has solely 15,000 followers on Instagram in contrast with 87.5 million followers who comply with the human rapper.
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