Facebook owner Meta is set to announce this week that it has struck deals with actors including Judi Dench, Kristen Bell and John Cena. The celebrities will lend their voices to a Meta AI chatbot, Reuters reported, citing a source familiar with the company's plans.
The new audio feature will offer users the ability to choose a voice for their Meta ChatGPT digital assistant from a list of five celebrities, including Awkwafina and Keegan-Michael Key, as well as a few general voice options, an anonymous source told Reuters. The list is topped by Bond actress Kristen Bell, star of the series “The Good Place” available on MAXor John Cena, an actor known for action films.
Judi Dench, Kristen Bell and John CenaEPA/PAP
Meta's Chatbot with the Voice of Actresses and Actors
The social media giant is set to announce the audio capabilities at its annual Connect conference, which kicks off on Wednesday.
Meta is also set to unveil the first version of its augmented reality glasses and discuss plans for other devices such as the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, which last year became the first product to feature an audio version of the Meta AI chatbot.
Celebrity voices will start appearing in USA and in other English-speaking markets this week across the Meta family of apps, including Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, a source told Reuters.
Bloomberg first reported earlier this summer that Meta was in talks with celebrities about using their voices in AI projects.
The race of companies creating artificial intelligence
Meta is racing to push generative AI products to its billions of users. Competitors include Microsoft-backed OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Alphabet’s Google. Meta is adding new capabilities to its chatbot and is aiming to make it a more visible part of the experience for its apps.
OpenAI unveiled a similar audio feature for its chatbot in May, but quickly ran into trouble when an actress Scarlett Johansson accused company of making her sound 'eerily similar' to hereven though she declined to lend her voice to the project.
Scarlett JohanssonShutterstock
Meta Assistant is currently capable of engaging in text chats and generating images in response to user commands. Last year, the company experimented with versions of the chatbot inspired by celebrities such as Paris Hilton and Snoop Dogg, although they failed to gain traction with users, Reuters reported.
Meta has since focused on its AI Studio product, which allows content creators on its platforms to create their own versions of chatbots.
Main image source: EPA/PAP