Meta will add voices like John Cena to its chatbot

The social media giant is set to announce audio capabilities at its annual Connect conference, which starts on Wednesday, the source added.

Meta is also expected to unveil an early version of its augmented reality glasses at Connect this year and discuss its roadmap for other hardware devices like its Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, which last year became its first product to include an audio version of the Meta AI chatbot.

Celebrity voices will begin rolling out in the United States and other English-speaking markets this week through Meta’s family of apps, which includes Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, the source told Reuters.

Bloomberg first reported earlier this summer that Meta was in talks with celebrities to use their voices in artificial intelligence projects.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg posted a promotional video on Instagram last week featuring Cena, which showed the two and others performing stunts while wearing Ray-Ban Meta sunglasses.

Meta has been racing to deliver generative AI products to its billions of users, competing with Microsoft-backed ChatGPT maker OpenAI and Alphabet’s Google to dominate the emerging technology.

The company has been adding features to its chatbot and promoting its integration into the user experience of its applications.