No company is immune from the wave of generative AI, and everyone wants to get in. Meta is a company that recently entered the testing of its own AI-powered tools. Mark Zuckerberg announced that the company is building a “new top-tier product group” to integrate generative AI into services used by billions of users.
Zuckerberg said the team will initially focus on building creative tools, but the long-term goal is to create “AI personas that can help people in a variety of ways.” But he cautioned that the company has a lot of groundwork to do before sharing these “futuristic” experiences with users.
The company is starting by testing text-based AI tools on WhatsApp and Messenger. Probably a ChatGPT style conversation bot. While these can be fun use cases for users, Meta can also ultimately take advantage of these features by offering them to businesses in areas such as sales and customer support.
Meta is also experimenting with AI-powered filters and Instagram ad formats, along with “videos and multimodal experiences.”
According to Axios, the project will be led by former Apple executive Ahmad Al-Dahle and the team will report to chief product officer Chris Cox.
Generative AI tools have been around for a while, but the technology only found mainstream stardom in OpenAI’s ChatGPT bot. Microsoft has already integrated some of its AI powerhouses into Bing search and the Edge browser. In response, Google also revealed earlier this month that it was experimenting with a rival product called Bard. Other search engines such as You.com and Neeva have also announced the integration of AI-powered chat products. Facebook rival Snapchat also launched a custom-trained chatbot for paying subscribers earlier this month.
It’s no surprise that Meta would embark on an AI attack. Zuckerberg’s big bet on the metaverse has yet to pay off, and the company needs to find new ways to make money. The Meta Verified subscription program debuted last week, but paid plans still don’t look like a major revenue driver, as we’ve seen on other social networks.
