Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, introduced the company's new artificial intelligence (AI) assistant, Meta AI, during the Meta Connect event on September 27. This AI assistant, powered by Meta's Llama 2 language model and developed in collaboration with Microsoft Bing, is designed to operate across Meta's platforms, including Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, and future mixed reality devices. Zuckerberg described Meta AI as a conversational assistant capable of answering questions and providing real-time internet information.
One of the unique features of Meta AI is its ability to generate images using a tool called Emu. This AI system was trained on a vast dataset of 1.1 billion pieces of data, including user-shared photos and captions from Facebook and Instagram. Zuckerberg emphasized that Meta's approach differs from competitors like OpenAI's ChatGPT; instead of creating a general chatbot, Meta aims to develop specialized AI products for various use cases.
Zuckerberg demonstrated how Meta AI can adapt to different social media apps, offering specific functionality tailored to each platform. For instance, it can assist with organizing travel plans in a Facebook Messenger group chat. Importantly, Meta AI is not just about delivering information; it's designed to engage users conversationally and provide entertainment.
Meta also showcased its entertainment-focused AI products and introduced a set of chatbots based on around 30 celebrities, including Paris Hilton, Snoop Dogg, and Tom Brady. The new AI assistant was set to launch on September 27, initially for a limited group of users in the United States on Facebook Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp.
Furthermore, Meta AI will be accessible to users of Meta's upcoming smart glasses, scheduled for release to U.S. users on October 17, as well as its new Quest 3 VR device. Coincidentally, on the same day as the Meta Connect event, OpenAI announced that its chatbot, ChatGPT, would no longer be limited to 2021 data, expanding its knowledge base for Plus and Enterprise users with the GPT-4 model.
