Google is working on a new project to create AI chatbots based on celebrities and YouTube influencers. This idea is not entirely new, as other companies like Character.ai and Meta have already launched similar products. Google’s chatbots will be powered by the company’s Gemini family of large language models, as reported by The Information.
The company is currently in talks with influencers and celebrities to form partnerships. Additionally, Google is developing a feature that will allow users to create their own chatbots by describing their personalities and appearance. Interestingly, Noam Shazeer, a co-founder of Character.ai, is a former Google engineer who played a key role in developing the technology behind today’s generative AI.
While it is still unclear which celebrities or influencers Google will collaborate with, Meta’s chatbots are based on personalities like Charli D’Amelio, Mr. Beast, Snoop Dogg, Tom Brady, and Paris Hilton. On the other hand, Character.ai’s chatbots include a diverse range of characters, from politicians and philosophers to fictional characters and even inanimate objects like a talking block of cheese.
The project at Google is reportedly led by Ryan Germick, a long-time executive known for his work on Google Doodles, along with a team of ten individuals. However, it seems that Google’s chatbots may only be an experimental project, as they might be limited to Google Labs, the company’s platform for testing new products.
The motivation behind Google’s venture into AI chatbots based on celebrities remains unclear. Despite Meta’s efforts to integrate chatbots into its products, the popularity of these celebrity chatbots has been relatively low. For example, Snoop Dogg’s chatbot on Instagram only has 15,000 followers compared to the rapper’s 87.5 million human followers.
In conclusion, Google’s latest project to develop AI chatbots based on celebrities and influencers is an intriguing development in the world of artificial intelligence. While the success of such chatbots remains uncertain, it is evident that companies are exploring innovative ways to engage users through interactive and personalized experiences. It will be interesting to see how Google’s chatbots evolve and whether they will resonate with audiences in the long run.
