Instagram owner Meta says Dame Judi Dench and John Cena will be available as voice options for its artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot.

Users can also get information from AI versions of Awkwafina, Keegan-Michael Key or Kristen Bell.

Meta hopes that this use of celebrity chatbots will be better than his last attempt.

In September 2023, the company debuted the so-called AI chatbots with “personality”based on celebrities like Kendall Jenner and Snoop Dogg, only to pull the plug less than a year later.

The tech giant’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, announced his new foray into celebrity chatbots during the company’s annual Connect conference.

“I think interacting with AI through voice will be much more natural than through text,” he told attendees.

Other new features of the ChatGPT-like chatbot include the ability to recognize things users photograph and give them information about them.

An image editing feature allows users to alter photos by telling the meta AI what changes they want.

The company said Meta AI is currently used by more than 400 million people each month, with 185 million of them returning to it weekly.

Mr Zuckerberg also unveiled the first working prototype of Meta’s augmented reality (AR) glasses called Orion.

While demonstrating the Orion glasses, Mr Zuckerberg said: “A lot of people have said this is the craziest technology they’ve ever seen.”

Users can interact with Orion using hand tracking, voice, and a wrist-based interface.

Meta also announced an entry-level version of its Quest range of mixed reality headsets. Prices for the new Quest 3S start at $300 (£225).

Some of the world’s largest technology companies are developing AR glasses, but have not yet launched commercially successful devices for the mass market.

Over the past few years, Meta has pumped billions of dollars into developing AI, AR and other metaverse technologies.

The company expects to spend up to $40 billion on new projects this year – a record figure.

Prior to the event, Meta shares ended Wednesday’s trading day at a record high of $568.31.

The market value of the company, which also includes the social media platforms Facebook and WhatsApp, has increased by more than 60 percent since the beginning of the year.

However, ahead of Meta’s annual presentation, thousands of Facebook and Instagram users, including many celebrities, shared a Stories post falsely claiming that people would have to repost it if they didn’t want the company to use their content to train its AI tools.

They included James McAvoy and Tom Brady who fell for the joke.

A Meta spokesperson confirmed that users can only object to the use of their content by submitting an objection form.

This can be accessed by clicking on a notification sent to users about the plans or by visiting the Privacy Center in the account settings.