Meta may not be the first company that comes to mind when you think of generative AI, but they are an important part of the current artificial intelligence race. The company has its own AI model, lamahas added “Meta AI” to all of its major products –whether you like it or not (You don’t). Meta even would like you to try to create your own AI bot. It’s safe to say that the company is fully committed to AI.
But even for a company so committed to AI, this latest story is simply bizarre. It turns out that the company has been experimenting with AI-generated user accounts on its platforms since 2023. The Instagram versions of these pages are currently going viral, but are also available on Facebook. The accounts are verified and each has a unique personality, but they are completely fraudulent. Each is completely fictional and contains posts with AI-generated images.
It’s all very strange, but not that new either – the profiles were created more than a year ago and appear to have been largely abandoned. And since the profiles are now generating a lot of online backlash, Meta is actively deleting their content.
It’s not hard to understand why The internet has embraced hatred for these fake people. Take “Liv” (username “himamaliv”), who claims to be a “proud black queer mom of two and truth teller.” Of course, Liv isn’t real, nor is the life she posts about on Instagram. But that doesn’t stop Liv: The creator posts about raising strong girls, ice skating with her family, and “soaking up the sun and fun” with “the kids.” Each post has a corresponding image – the beach post shows children playing in the sand, while the ice skating post shows skaters on an ice rink – but all of these images are AI generated.
To Meta’s credit, each image is stamped with a Meta AI watermark to indicate that the image isn’t actually real, but that doesn’t make these posts any less creepy. Why does an AI-generated “mother” post an AI-generated picture of her “children” playing on the “beach”? Who benefited from the AI-generated shell campaign she is proud to lead?
Photo credit: Jake Peterson
In her second oldest post, dated September 26, 2023, she says, “My backyard is my happy place… I’ve hosted so many birthday parties, cookouts, and girls’ nights in this space that I’ve lost track. Forever “grateful for the life I live,” complete with an AI-generated image of a picnic spread. The thing is, Liv didn’t host any birthday parties, cookouts, or girls’ nights in this room. This area does not exist. The life Liv is so grateful for doesn’t exist.
Liv follows 18 accounts at the time of writing. Thirteen of them appear to be similar AI-generated sites. For example, there’s Becca (dogloverbecca), who posts AI-generated dog content; Brian (Hellograndpabiran), who promotes himself as “Everyone’s Grandpa”; and Alvin the Alien (Greetingsalvin), who is, um, an alien.
But not all posts Are AI generated. Some of them have also posted videos on their accounts and that too AI-generated videos can be quite convincing these daysI don’t think these videos are AI generated – at least not all of them. Carter, the AI dating coach, had a cooking video from January 2024 This seemed very real, but it seems that Meta destroyed all the content. But who posted them? For what purpose?
These accounts are not new, but they are currently going viral
The strangest thing is that these posts and pages are not new. For example, Liv’s most recent post is from March 8, 2024, as are most of these AI bots’ posts. (Carter appears to have posted as recently as June.) Their profiles are mostly abandoned, although each still has verification badges attached. However, as I write this, Meta appears to be deleting the content of every Instagram page. The Facebook counterparts still seem to be active, but I imagine they will soon be unavailable as well.
Photo credit: Jake Peterson
The pages are actually linked AI chatbots Meta were already developed in 2023when it really got its AI programs going. The headlines then focused primarily on a number of prominent AI chatbots that allowed you to chat with “Tom Brady,” “Kendall Jenner,” and “Paris Hilton.” But on this list of non-celebrity chatbots that Meta released were names like Liv, Brian and Alvin the Alien. You can still chat with them if you want: Visit Liv’s profile and start a conversation. But like any other AI chatbot, you probably won’t get very far.
It’s not entirely clear why these accounts are going viral now, a year and a half after Meta first introduced them. If I had to guess, I’d say it’s because they really are that bad. The reports are strange, and there are so many levels to their weirdness: the personalities developed by Meta are repulsive (and border offensive); The posts themselves are creepy (who wants to see AI photos of fake people’s children, complete with a story about their day at the beach?); and the fact that they are verified completely defeats the purpose of verification.
In short, the reports may be from 2023, but they reflect angry discontent over AI misuse in 2025. As Jason Koebler of 404media writes on Bluesky:
