They say never meet your heroes. But what if those heroes came in the shape of an AI chatbot designed to emulate a celebrity or literary great? Last month, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that the company was bringing 28 AI chatbots to its platform, allowing its users to have one-on-one conversations with a seemingly random array of celebrities. As of right now, most of these AIs are still in limited beta, but a quick perusal of their Facebook and Instagram feeds doesn’t exactly have us optimistic about the project. Along with AIs based on the likes of Tom Brady, Kendall Jenner, or James “MrBeast” Donaldson, Meta has also given new life to one of the most famed English novelists: Jane Austen. The social profile of Zombie Austen is eyebrow-raising. Her profile picture, for instance, depicts an influencer-looking woman wearing a smirk and a fuzzy headband over blonde hair, even though the real Austen was brunette. And that only foreshadows the account’s vapid posts, which range from AI-generated pictures of dusty libraries to uninspiring book stacks. In short, it’s an exceptionally unimaginative and ahistorical rendition of one the most acclaimed novelists in the English language. Adding insult to injury, Zombie Austen’s limited engagement is comprised of befuddled Facebook users who don’t seem to understand that she’s AI-generated and outright spam that the company’s filters seem helpless to catch. It’s not just Zombie Austen, by the way. Here’s spam on “Billie,” the company’s bot based on Kendall Jenner: And here’s “Tamika,” the company’s riff on…Facebook's AI-Powered Jane Austen Is Already Overrun by Spam