Meta is paying celebrities millions of dollars⁴⁰ to license their likenesses for AI chatbot characters. Reminder: These celebrities are playing a personalized avatar - Charli D'Amelio's is a dancer named Coco, while MrBeast's AI is named Zach on Meta apps that people can chat with.

What’s going on here?

Meta is shelling out millions to get celebrities to license their likenesses for AI characters in a bid to draw users to its platforms.

What does this mean?

According to someone with inside knowledge, Meta is paying stars like Snoop Dogg, Tom Brady, MrBeast and Charli D'Amelio millions of dollars over multiple years to use their likenesses for fictional AI avatars. For example, Meta is paying one top creator around $5 million over two years for about six hours of studio work. The deal is also non-exclusive, which means it allows the celebrities to also work with other AI services.

The AI avatars are currently text-based chatbots on Meta's platforms, but Zuckerberg said voice capabilities are coming in 2023.

Why should I care?

Meta is still all-in on its vision for the metaverse and AI, despite its recent struggles. Meta seems willing to pay top dollar to partner with big names who can draw their massive audiences to use the AI avatars. If the celebrity avatars take off, they could be a blueprint for how creators monetize their brands in virtual worlds. There's also a chance Meta pulls the plug on funding if user traction is low, just as it did with Facebook Watch originals.