Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg speaks during the Meta Connect event at Meta headquarters in Menlo Park, California on September 27, 2023.
Josh Edelson | Afp | Getty Images
Half on Thursday announced that its free artificial intelligence assistant, Meta AI, will launch on its social media platforms WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook and Messenger.
The assistant can answer questions, create animations and generate images, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a video. Meta AI was built on the company’s latest large language model called Meta Llama 3, also announced Thursday.
The AI tool is Meta’s competitor to OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google Gemini but, in a unique twist, Meta has also partnered with Google and Microsoft to provide results from both companies’ search engines.
“We believe that Meta AI is now the smartest AI assistant that you can freely use,” Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, said in the video.
Meta shares rose more than 2% on Thursday.
Meta AI is integrated into the search box of WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook and Messenger apps so users can easily ask questions.
For example, Meta said users can ask Meta AI for restaurant recommendations, help planning a vacation, or inspiration for decorating a new apartment.
The company said Meta AI is also available on the “meta.ai” website, where users can ask the assistant for help with tasks such as solving a math problem or writing a professional email, the release said. Users can record their conversations for future reference.
Meta said the assistant’s image generation feature will be available in beta on WhatsApp and the MetaAI website. Users will see an image appear as they begin typing, and MetaAI will provide suggestions to help edit or refine the image. Images can also be animated into a GIF that users can share.
Meta first introduced Meta AI in beta at its Connect event in September. The assistant will be available in English in more than a dozen countries such as the United States, Canada, New Zealand and Australia starting Thursday.