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Meta, the parent company of Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp, this week launches its journey into artificial intelligence with the release of a standalone AI chatbot and powerful open source model Llama 3, positioning itself as a leading bot competitor . Google, ChatGPT, and others are no different as companies race to develop ever more powerful systems.
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important facts
Meta says its AI assistant, Meta AI, is now integrated into the search bar of its Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger apps, and can also be accessed when scrolling through the main Facebook feed.
The AI assistant will also be deployed as a standalone tool through the website Meta.ai, the tech giant said.
Meta AI has been available within the company’s apps for several months, but this announcement marks the first time it will be available as a standalone product outside of Meta’s social media ecosystem.
This restriction has hampered Meta’s ability to compete in the increasingly crowded chatbot market. By making Meta AI more available as a standalone product, the company is able to compete more directly with other AI tools, particularly leaders such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Anthropic’s Claude, and Microsoft’s Copilot. And Google Gemini.
This announcement coincided with the announcement of Llama 3, the open source AI model that Meta used to build its chatbot.
Mehta said the Llama 3 model is “the best open model in its class ever” and has the potential to outperform world-class closed-source AI models such as OpenAI and Google.
tangent
Meta AI is not universally available around the world, but the company said it is currently rolling out paid calls in English in “more than a dozen countries outside the US”. Canada, Ghana, Jamaica, Malawi, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, Singapore, South Africa, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe said they will have access to Meta AI. More countries are likely to join, Mehta suggested, adding: “We’re just getting started.”
Main background
Ever since ChatGPT sparked an explosion of interest in the AI assistant space, the technology industry has been racing to build, develop, and release more powerful AI models. Models like Meta’s Llama, OpenAI’s GPT, and Google’s Gemini are the underlying architectures that power tools like chatbots, image generators, video generators, and more. In addition to Meta, multiple companies including Google, OpenAI, and Mistral have all released new versions of their major systems within the past month. The decision to open source Llama 3 marks a notable change from other market leaders such as his OpenAI and Google, which tend to keep the technology closed. Open source technology can be more easily used, vetted, and shared within the industry. However, while open source licenses may come with usage conditions, they often serve as a stepping stone for other companies to build various apps and tools. The release of powerful open-source AI models like Llama 3 could fuel a flurry of innovations like this one designed around Meta’s models. But it’s not without cost, with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg previously saying the company is spending billions of dollars developing its AI systems.
What to watch out for
Expect to see more AI releases from the industry this summer as players prepare for the release of GPT-5, the next major update to the system behind OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Masu. Yann LeCun, the company’s chief AI scientist, said Meta is already training a more powerful AI model to replace Llama 3.
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