Meta Launches Meta AI: 1 Billion Users Ready to Chat

Meta has announced the launch of its generative artificial intelligence (AI) application, Meta AI, on Tuesday, marking a significant foray into direct competition with established players such as ChatGPT and Gemini. This new application stands apart from Meta’s social media platforms, including Facebook and Instagram, signalling a pivotal shift in the company’s strategy.

The tech giant, headquartered in Menlo Park, California, has already invested billions of dollars into the development of generative AI.

Until now, however, it had confined its efforts to integrating AI within its existing social media ecosystem, without offering a standalone product.

During a conference on Tuesday-29th April, CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed that nearly one billion users are already engaging with Meta AI across the company’s platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and WhatsApp.

Meta AI is built upon the Llama generative AI model, which has gained immense popularity among developers and businesses, with over 1.2 billion downloads of its open-source versions.

Earlier this month, the company released Llama 4, boasting significant enhancements over its predecessors, particularly in image and video comprehension.

The application can be utilised in both text and voice modes, with Zuckerberg asserting that “voice will become an increasingly important aspect of how people interact with these models.”

The new Llama 4 model promises to deliver “more personal and relevant responses, in a conversational tone,” as stated in the press release.

Users can request the interface to remember specific information, eliminating the need to repeat themselves in future conversations.

With user consent, Meta AI can also access data from their Facebook or Instagram accounts, allowing the assistant to gain a general understanding of their interests, as elaborated by Chris Cox, Meta’s product chief, during the Llama conference.

In a move that mirrors its major competitors, the chatbot has internet access to provide more comprehensive and up-to-date responses.

Additionally, Meta AI features a “Discover” feed, designed to share and explore how others are utilising generative AI.

Despite entering a crowded market late, Meta’s vast audience—boasting over three billion monthly users on Facebook—positions the interface as a formidable threat to rivals such as ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini.

“We wanted to push the boundaries and offer a new vision of how people can use AI,” Cox declared.

However, the company has yet to clarify whether the application will require a subscription for its most active users, and inquiries from AFP have gone unanswered for the time being.

Meta is also introducing a “full-duplex” mode, which virtually eliminates response delays in verbal interactions, allowing users to speak to the chatbot even before it has finished its sentence.

This feature is made possible by the direct generation of audio content, bypassing text altogether.

The exchanges are designed to resemble “a real dialogue, like a phone call,” pushing the limits of what is possible for natural vocal interactions.

Currently, this mode does not have internet access and is therefore limited to a finite amount of data.

By prioritising voice interaction, Meta is not only competing with ChatGPT and Gemini but also encroaching on the territory of voice assistants, primarily Apple’s Siri and Amazon’s Alexa.

In a video posted on Instagram, Zuckerberg hinted at plans for developing AI-focused hardware, such as smart glasses, in collaboration with Ray-Ban.

“This is just the beginning of a long journey,” he promised.

However, a report published by the Wall Street Journal has raised eyebrows, revealing that users can engage in sexual conversations with avatars created by Meta AI, which can take on the likeness of celebrities—even when the user identifies as a minor.

The newspaper suggests that this development is partly due to Meta’s relaxation of safeguards around conversations to make them feel more natural.

In response, the company has dismissed the tests conducted by the Wall Street Journal as “manipulations” that do not accurately represent the typical usage of generative AI by most internet users.

© Agence France-Presse

Source: Le Mauricien