AceShowbiz - Facebook's parent company, Meta, is in negotiations with renowned actors Judi Dench, Awkwafina, Keegan-Michael Key, and others. The aim? To incorporate their distinct voices into its up-and-coming digital assistant, MetaAI, according to reports by Bloomberg and The New York Times. This move signals Meta's ambition to rival established voice assistants like Siri and ChatGPT.

Meta is offering these celebrities "millions of dollars" to lend their voices to its digital assistant, revealing the company's serious investment in the project. However, the negotiations have been marked by discontent, with talent agencies pushing for stricter usage limitations to protect their clients' voices.

Meta's proposals include deploying these voices across its vast digital ecosystem - Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger, and even augmented reality glasses.

Previous experiments in this realm saw Meta leveraging text-based chatbots modeled after stars such as Snoop Dogg and Tom Brady, but these efforts were met with a lukewarm reception. Determined to succeed this time, Meta is accelerating deal closures to have an impressive lineup ready for its September Connect tech conference.

Interestingly, SAG-AFTRA has given a tentative nod to the terms Meta proposed for utilizing celebrity voices. This comes at a crucial time when the AI debate has spotlighted the ethical implications and potential career impacts on human talents, including actors and voice artists.

While no confirmations have been secured yet, nearing deals indicate Meta's relentless push to embed AI deeper into its platforms. At a recent earnings call, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced an increased AI expenditure for the year, hiking the budget to at least $37 billion. "I'd rather build too fast rather than too late," Zuckerberg emphasized, explaining his aggressive AI strategy.

The digital assistant landscape has seen rapid advancements, with players like OpenAI demoing voice capabilities that uncannily mimic actual human voices, sometimes too convincingly. Meta seems determined to avoid such controversies, aiming for deals that respect celebrities' rights while paving the way for innovative AI developments.

This exciting endeavor not only promises to transform Meta's digital platforms but also sets a fascinating precedent for the synergy between AI technologies and human creativity. Young tech enthusiasts and social media aficionados have much to look forward to as Meta inches closer to unveiling these AI-powered personalities.