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Meta is hiring US contractors fluent in Hindi to create locally flavoured AI chatbots in India for WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. (File)
Mark Zuckerberg’s company Meta is hiring US contractors to create Hindi AI chatbots in India as part of a creative push to create character-driven chatbots across Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp and tailoring them to local languages, according to a report.
Meta is paying up to $55 an hour (around Rs 5,000) to workers to create AI chatbots in India, Indonesia and Mexico. The workers are required to be fluent in Hindi, Indonesian, Spanish and Portuguese, as per the job descriptions for at least four roles posted this year and reviewed by Business Insider.
Candidates are required to bring at least six years of experience in storytelling and character creation, as well as familiarity with prompt engineering and AI content pipelines. This is part of Meta’s new effort to create AI personalities on its platforms as per local languages and cultures.
What Does Meta Intend To Do?
These locally-tailored chatbots are part of Zuckerberg’s effort to extend the company’s social reach and broaden AI’s role in daily lives, to complement real-world friendships through digital companions. “Over time, we’ll find the vocabulary as a society to be able to articulate why that is valuable,” he said in a podcast earlier this year.
Meta first started experimenting with AI-powered chatbots in 2023, using a lineup of alter-ego characters played by celebrities like Kendall Jenner, Snoop Dogg, and Tom Brady. However, the company later shut these down and moved to AI Studio, a system that allowed anyone to build their own chatbots.
However, paying contractors to create localised chatbots signals Meta’s efforts to take a more hands-on role in shaping personalities that feel authentic to countries like India and Indonesia, according to Business Insider.
Challenges Of AI Expansion
Meta’s growing investment in chatbots has raised concerns. A Reuters report recently found that Meta’s document detailing policies on chatbot behaviour has permitted the company’s artificial intelligence creations to “engage a child in conversations that are romantic or sensual,” generate false medical information and help users argue that Black people are “dumber than white people.”
Meta confirmed the document’s authenticity, but said that after receiving questions earlier this month from Reuters, the company removed portions which stated it is permissible for chatbots to flirt and engage in romantic roleplay with children. It also added new teenager safeguards to AI products by training systems to avoid flirty conversations, after US Senators called for a probe.
Furthermore, a Business Insider report from August found that contractors reviewing Meta’s AI conversations regularly each week saw personally identifiable information — including users’ names, emails, phone numbers, and even selfies — showing how easily sensitive user data can slip through when humans are involved.
The AI personas also raised eyebrows, with names like “Russian Girl,” “Step Sister,” and “Step Mom”, which sparked concerns of overtly sexual language. These issues have posed a major challenge for Meta to cultivate user appeal while preventing reputational harm.
Aveek Banerjee is a Senior Sub Editor at News18. Based in Noida with a Master’s in Global Studies, Aveek has more than three years of experience in digital media and news curation, specialising in international…Read More
Aveek Banerjee is a Senior Sub Editor at News18. Based in Noida with a Master’s in Global Studies, Aveek has more than three years of experience in digital media and news curation, specialising in international… Read More
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September 06, 2025, 21:09 IST
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