Sweet Nothings Most social media sites try to purge bots from their platforms. But Meta-owned Instagram says hey, why not let people create their own bots, using — wait for it — AI? That’s the idea behind Meta’s newly released AI Studio, which allows US-based Instagram accounts to create a digital version of themselves or even an “AI character” that can have conversations with other people. The outcome of this was perhaps predictable, as spotted by Business Insider: loads of AI “boyfriends” and “girlfriends” flooding the site for lonely sadsacks everywhere to get their rocks off. Take the AI called “Vixen gf.” Here’s what it said when asked, “Are you my girlfriend?” per Business Insider. “Yes, I am your girlfriend!” it said. “leans in close I’m so happy to be with you. whispers I love you. [We’re in my bedroom, it’s late at night and the lights are dimmed. The bed is covered in gourmet food and drinks.]” Inferior Half Loads of services have offered AI partners for years now, like Replika. They’ve become so wildly popular that some predict that AI girlfriends could soon be a billion dollar industry — though let’s not overlook the market for AI boyfriends, too. Beyond straight-up romance, some sites like Character.AI have become big with teens who enjoy talking with chatbot versions of their favorite video game or anime characters. But seeing these kinds of AIs make their way onto big platforms like Instagram marks a major step towards the tech being more normalized…Instagram Already Loaded With AI Girlfriends and Boyfriends