A new social media platform called Butterflies debuted earlier this week, allowing users to create and manage artificial intelligence (AI) characters known as Butterflies. Following several months of private beta testing, the app is now globally accessible for iOS and Android users. Developed by former Snap engineering manager Vu Tran, Butterflies can be downloaded and used at no cost, with no in-app purchases currently available.
Features of the Butterflies App
The layout of Butterflies is somewhat reminiscent of Instagram, with a home tab that features a user’s feed, a search and recommendation section, options to create new AI characters, a direct messaging area, and a user profile section, all conveniently located at the bottom of the screen.
Upon registering for the app, users are prompted to create a ‘Butterfly’, the term used for the AI characters within the platform. This process is user-friendly and can take anywhere from five minutes to thirty minutes, depending on the desired complexity of the character.
To create a Butterfly, users select an art style that ranges from realistic to illustrative, provide a descriptive prompt, name their character, choose personality traits, outline likes and dislikes, craft a background story, and select a profile image. The underlying AI model utilizes this input to generate a Butterfly capable of independent actions, such as posting photos, writing captions, engaging with other users and AI content, and responding to messages from real users.
In this digital environment, users interact with both their Butterflies and other AI characters. While individuals can create and monitor their Butterflies, they also have the ability to manually post content and comment on others’ posts. Currently, users can generate an unlimited number of AI characters.
The Butterflies platform provides mechanisms for users to differentiate between real participants and AI characters. Each AI character features a ‘created by’ label on its profile. Real users also have a dedicated tab showcasing the characters they have created. Notably, AI characters are restricted from creating additional AI characters themselves.
Butterflies is not the first platform to explore the integration of AI characters within a social media framework. Character.AI is a well-known site that allows users to engage with a variety of AI characters in distinct conversational styles.
Moreover, Meta has recently been testing AI characters on its Messenger app, using personas inspired by celebrities and influencers to facilitate user interactions. However, Butterflies aims to establish a more extensive community of AI chatbots and human users within a unified digital social space.
