Meta's AI Chatbot Gets Celebrity Voices

Facebook parent company Meta Platforms has secured deals with actors including Judi Dench, Kristen Bell and John Cena to give voice to its Meta AI chatbot to provide voices for its new Meta AI chatbot.

This feature will allow users to choose from a selection of five celebrity voices as well as various generic voice options for the chatbot, enhancing user interaction. Meta plans to officially unveil these audio capabilities during its upcoming Connect conference.

This update comes as Meta aims to enhance its AI chatbot, which users can interact with on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Threads, in order to stay competitive with products like ChatGPT, which is introducing its own advanced voice mode.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg expressed confidence that Meta AI could become “the most used AI assistant in the world” by year-end, leveraging the massive user base of over 3 billion people engaging with the company's apps daily. However, details on how Meta tracks the usage and engagement with the chatbot remain unclear.

In contrast, OpenAI faced criticism earlier this year over a demo voice for ChatGPT that closely resembled Scarlett Johansson, who stated she was approached for the project but declined to participate.

OpenAI later paused the use of that voice despite denying it was modeled after her. In a more transparent approach, Meta has reportedly established formal partnerships with the actors whose voices are being utilized in its AI tool.

Additionally, Meta's AI technology will enable auto-translation and dubbing for foreign language Reels (short-form videos). This means that if a user encounters a Reel in a different language, such as Spanish, it will be presented in English, with synchronized mouth movements to make the dubbing appear seamless and natural.

Moving forward, these innovations are part of Meta's broader strategy to leverage AI and enhance user experience across its platforms.