Meta announced a major expansion of generative AI capabilities across its family of apps at its 2023 Connect event on Wednesday.
This AI expansion comes at a pivotal moment, providing a much-needed boost as Meta’s metaverse ambitions continue to rack up losses.
Among the new offerings is Meta AI, an advanced conversational assistant available in the U.S. on WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram.
The assistant will work very similar to OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Anthropic’s Claude, and other conversational AI systems. The moves signal Meta’s ambitions to compete with AI leaders like OpenAI as generative AI takes off.
There are three big differentiators for Meta AI: Meta AI can provide real-time web results through a new partnership with Microsoft’s Bing search engine, a feature just introduced to ChatGPT today.
The assistant can also natively generate photorealistic images from prompts using technology similar to DALL-E and Midjourney, without needing another app. OpenAI is also introducing native DALL-E integration into ChatGPT in the coming months.
But the most significant differentiator is that Meta is making this AI available to its billions of users, meaning it may be the first AI touchpoint many individuals have with generative AI. As reported by The Verge, Meta is currently not tapping into Instagram and Facebook content to train its large language model.
Meta is also launching AI-powered stickers on its messaging platforms that turn text into customized stickers. New AI-powered editing tools are also coming to Instagram, including Restyle and Backdrop, that allow users to alter images or backgrounds based on descriptive prompts.
The company additionally introduced over two dozen AI personalities embodied by celebrities and influencers, including Snoop Dogg, Paris Hilton, and Tom Brady.
Meta plans to open up its AI capabilities over time, allowing businesses, creators, and developers to build their own AI experiences. This includes an AI Studio for generating conversational agents.
Unlike the abstract metaverse, AI can be integrated into people’s everyday digital experiences on WhatsApp and Instagram.
The company’s futuristic virtual reality push is hemorrhaging money. Meta’s Reality Labs segment, which contains its metaverse investments, lost nearly $21 billion over the past 18 months according to a July report from Fortune.
Wednesday’s announcements underscore Meta’s evolving identity as an AI-driven tech giant beyond social media. But the jury is still out on whether integrating nascent generative AI into consumer products will pay off as enthusiasts hope.
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