Instagram looking to offer AI-powered “friends” feature

Reports have revealed that the social media platform, Instagram is currently reportedly working on artificial intelligence-powered “friends” that users can customise to their liking and then speak to.

According to screenshots shared by developer Alessandro Paluzzi, there is a possibility that users could soon be able to create an AI companion of whatever race, gender, age, and personality they want, and they’ll be able to set specific interests to engage in conversation.

Included on the personality options are reserved, creative, enthusiastic, witty, pragmatic, and empowering, and according to the screenshots, the personality will “inform the tone of your custom AI’s speech’.

Users will also be able to create a unique name of their choosing and an avatar created through image-generating AI. Options for interests for the AI include DIY, animals, career, education, entertainment, music, and nature, and the choice will “inform its personality and the nature of its conversations”.

Once the AI “friend” has been created, users will be taken to a chat window where they can click a button to start conversing with the AI.

Meta Platform has been pushing heavily into AI, however, it has been relatively quiet regarding AI features for Instagram. The Instagram help page shows that the platform’s mobile apps already include the option to chat with AI.

Instagram notes that the feature isn’t available to everyone, and those with access will see the option to Create an AI chat.