Meta pays Tom Brady and Naomi Osaka millions for AI chatbot

Business

go through Ariel Zibber

Meta is paying millions of dollars to powerful celebrities, including retired NFL superstar Tom Brady, rapper Snoop Dogg, former reality star Paris Hilton and TikTok, according to a report Influencer Charli D’Amelio to use their likeness for a fictional artificial intelligence chatbot.

The parent company of Facebook paid a top creator about $5 million over two years in exchange for six hours of work in the studio, technology news site The Information reported.

Meta, which also owns WhatsApp and Instagram, is so keen on luring big-name stars to sign up that it pays each celebrity more than $1 million to allow them to use their likeness, The Information reports.

The report cited a person familiar with the matter as saying that the price ranges for other deals with top creators are similar and that the arrangements are non-exclusive – meaning stars can choose to have their likenesses purchased into other AI-related products. .

The Washington Post has sought comment from Meta.

“We shared our plans at (Meta) Connect to bring AI experiences to creators on our platform in the future,” a company spokesperson told The Information.

At a developer conference last week, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg introduced an artificial intelligence personal assistant that people can interact with using any of Meta’s messaging apps, as well as a number of things he said There are “more interesting” AI characters, such as “Sous Chef Max,” who helps come up with dinner ideas, or Lily, “a personal editor and writing partner.”

The bot answers questions in real time and engages in human-like conversations with the user based on the character’s personality.

“Advances in artificial intelligence allow us to create different artificial intelligence people to help us accomplish different things,” Zuckerberg told developers at the annual Connect conference in Menlo Park, California. last week.

“It’s not just about answering questions. “It’s about entertainment, it’s about helping you do something to connect with the people around you. “

Brady was reportedly paid an estimated $55 million by disgraced crypto tycoon Sam Bankman Fried for working 60 hours as a spokesperson for collapsed cryptocurrency platform FTX. Assigned to play the role of Bru, a “quippy sports debater.”

Two other sports stars, retired basketball superstar Dwyane Wade plays sports coach “Victor”, while tennis star Naomi Osaka plays “Master Manager” Tamika. Tamika, who is dedicated to “proving that geeks are cool” out there. “

Max is played by real-life chef Roy Choi, while Snoop Dogg, wearing a red collar and cape, plays the “Dungeon Master” who encourages users to “enter the Middle Ages.”

Paris Hilton plays Amber, a “forensic expert” who solves crimes.

Before she became a social media star and amassed an estimated 150 million followers on TikTok, D’Amelio was a competitive dancer playing a dancer named Coco.

Meta hopes the addition of D’Amelio and YouTube star MrBeast, among others, will attract younger viewers who have shunned Facebook in favor of archrival TikTok.

Artificial intelligence is at the core of this vision.

This summer, Meta released the next generation of AI large language models and made the technology, called Llama 2, free for research and commercial use.

Meta says it’s working on adding voice to the bot, which is currently only available as a text-based chat.