Meta, the firm formerly known as Facebook, has launched a new conversational AI assistant called Meta AI. The rival allows users to search and get information across its apps, including Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger.
The artificial intelligence race is heating up, and Meta is the latest to enter the fray with its own AI chatbot.
Artificial Intelligence Arms Race
The September 27 launch of Meta AI puts the social media firm in direct competition with OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s , and Anthropic’s Claude.
Meta AI relies on one of the company’s large language models and partnerships with Microsoft Bing. It is also launching 28 celebrity and cultural icon chatbots on its platforms, according to reports
“Meta AI is your basic assistant that you can talk to like a person,” said Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg in a keynote at the company’s developers conference.
The firm has long dominated AI research, but Google and OpenAI have received more credit.
Its AI chatbot is more than just a data provider and is intended to be more entertaining, transforming how people interact with Meta products. Zuckerberg added,
“I think this is going to transform the way that people use all of our products.”
Additionally, Meta is launching new AI image creation tools for Instagram, allowing users to transform photos with different styles and backgrounds.
The artificial intelligence assistant will have limited availability in the United States. Moreover, the firm expects to integrate it with its latest smart glasses and its newly released virtual reality headsets.
Meta is entering a crowded space that already has a plethora of chatbots to choose from. However, it wants to go beyond a flagship chatbot and create more of a personality-driven social assistant.
Read more:ChatGPT vs. Google Bard: A Comparison of AI Chatbots
AI Latest Roundup
The Meta launch comes just two days after announced it was enabling users to talk with its ChatGPT chatbot.
The new voice feature for ChatGPT will be rolled out over the next two weeks. This will put an AI voice companion in the pockets of people seeking a more human conversation with the chatbot.
Additionally, OpenAI announced on September 27 that ChatGPT can now search the internet on its own. The firm
“It is no longer limited to data before September 2021.”
Also this week, Amazon said it had signed a deal to invest up to $4 billion in the AI start-up Anthropic, which created the Claude chatbot.
