Meta is reportedly offering millions to use Hollywood voices in AI projects

🌈 Abstract

The article discusses Meta's plans to incorporate the voices of celebrities like Awkwafina, Judi Dench, and Keegan-Michael Key into a conversational generative AI-powered digital assistant called MetaAI, similar to Siri and Google Assistant. The company is in negotiations with the celebrities and their representatives to secure the rights to use their voices across Meta's platforms like Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp, as well as the Ray-Ban Meta glasses. The negotiations have faced challenges as both sides try to agree on the terms of use, including time limits and payment. The article also mentions that Meta had previously introduced a chatbot platform with celebrity-voiced characters, but has now quietly scrapped that project.

🙋 Q&A

[01] Meta's Plans for Celebrity Voices in AI Assistant

1. What are Meta's plans for incorporating celebrity voices into their AI assistant?

• Meta is in talks with celebrities like Awkwafina, Judi Dench, and Keegan-Michael Key to record their voices and secure the rights to use them in their conversational generative AI assistant called MetaAI.
• Meta plans to use the celebrity voices across their various platforms including Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp, and the Ray-Ban Meta glasses.

2. What are the challenges Meta is facing in negotiating with the celebrities?

• The negotiations have started and stopped many times as both sides struggle to agree on the terms of use, particularly around time limits for how long Meta can use the celebrity voices.
• The celebrities' representatives are looking to negotiate for stricter limits on the use of their clients' voices.
• However, SAG-AFTRA has reportedly reached an agreement with Meta on terms that would require the company to pay actors and obtain their consent before using their AI-generated likeness.

3. What happened to Meta's previous celebrity chatbot project?

• Meta had previously introduced a chatbot platform with 28 "characters" voiced by celebrities like Snoop Dogg, Paris Hilton, Dwyane Wade, and Kendall Jenner.
• However, The Information reports that Meta has now quietly scrapped that project, and the celebrity chatbots' pages on Facebook and Instagram are no longer available.

[02] Potential Outcomes of Meta's Celebrity Voice Deals

1. What are the potential outcomes if Meta is able to finalize deals with the celebrities?

• If Meta reaches deals with the celebrities they are in talks with, they could pay the actors millions of dollars in fees.
• Meta is looking to finalize the deals before their Connect conference in September, where they are expected to launch a range of AI products.

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