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Oct 27, 2023

Meta reveals its plans for new AI tools at company meeting

The social media titan is creating a multitude of AI agents to help users share

The social media titan is creating a multitude of AI agents to help users share content and get advice

CEO Mark Zuckerberg leaving The Merrion Hotel in Dublin (Niall Carson/PA)

eta is working on creating artificially intelligent assistants for the billions of people who use its social media apps, according to a new report.

The AI "agents" will reportedly help users to create content or give them advice on WhatsApp, Messenger and Instagram.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed the lofty plans during an all-hands meeting at the company's Silicon Valley headquarters, reports The New York Times.

The social media giant has been investing in AI for years through open-source projects that it releases to academics and researchers for free. While the tech has mainly been put to work behind the scenes on its social networks, where it removes rule-breaking posts and misinformation, Meta now wants to hand it over to users.

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The company wants to provide AI assistants that help people "create content to express yourself and your ideas so much better," or an AI version of "a coach that gives you advice, encourages you," Zuckerberg said.

These agents could also pop up in places like WhatsApp to help businesses provide customer service. Meta recently announced a new feature called WhatsApp channels that allows organisations, like charities and football clubs, to keep in touch with followers. Eventually, every business could use a personalised AI algorithm, Zuckerberg hinted.

Earlier this week, a developer known for leaking Instagram features said the app was working on AI bots. The new feature would allow users to choose from agents with 30 different personalities.

Other AI companies such as Character.ai and Forever Voices are already enabling users to interact with chatbots that mimic celebrities and fictional characters. This approach stands in contrast to the singular chabot or voice assistant offered by the likes of OpeanAI's ChatGPT, Amazon's Alexa, and Apple's Siri.

At the meeting, Zuckerberg reportedly told staff that he didn't want to consolidate the tech into one AI "that's going to try to rule everything".

Instead, he proposed a "diverse array of AIs to represent" the different interests of its users. Meta's suite of social media platforms had just shy of 3 billion monthly active users at last count.

Zuckerberg's latest strategy could be influenced by past failures. Meta pulled the plug on an all-encompassing digital assistant for its Messenger app in 2018. It has since previewed a chabot in the States and released its own language model earlier this year, which is the tech that underpins AI chatbots.

Despite the high-profile announcements, Meta is playing catch up in the AI race. ChatGPT founder OpenAI, and backer Microsoft, have already released popular AI tools that work on the web and mobile. Google is also scrambling to add AI-powered answers to its search engine. Closer to home, Meta's arch-rivals TikTok and Snap are embracing chatbots in order to learn more about users’ tastes and preferences.

Meta's internal meeting comes on the heels of a rocky year for the company. Zuckerberg has overseen massive layoffs at the firm in a bid to cut costs, while pouring billions into virtual reality products that have struggled to go mainstream. It's now facing stiff competition after Apple unveiled its first mixed-reality headset to rapturous acclaim.

But that doesn't mean Meta is giving up on the metaverse. Zuckerberg said that generative AI could help people create new VR experiences and virtual items. The plans echo how rival Roblox is using the tech to enable developers to whip up new games in record time.

In the future, Meta could even bring an AI assistant to a new version of the smart glasses it originally launched in 2021. The company is said to be working on a follow-up model that features a display for viewing incoming text messages.

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