Meta
The AI hype is currently in full swing, pushing beyond form factor boundaries with varying degrees of success. However, for the most part, users have had to endure the expense of fully tapping into its potential. Just today, Meta AI made its grand debut, drawing power from the Llama 3 model. And it’s free (for now), and it could very well be one of the first truly mass-market AI products.
This is mainly because Meta AI is already making its way to some of the most widely used platforms on the planet, which attract billions of users. Available in English, this multifunctional AI tool can now be found on WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, and Messenger.
In its initial expansion beyond the US market, Meta AI is reaching users in Australia, Canada, Ghana, Jamaica, Malawi, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, Singapore, South Africa, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
Meta has rolled out its AI in the form of a standalone chatbot entity in each of the aforementioned apps. It can even be used in WhatsApp Group chats by simply using the @MetaAI keyword in the message field. On Instagram and Messenger, it is available in the DMs section.
What can Meta AI do?
Just like a regular chatbot connected to the internet, Meta AI can fetch summarized information from the web. But with Meta’s implementation across its social and messaging apps, it saves users the trouble of conducting a web search. In fact, you can summon it directly in a chat with another person, functioning as a sort of answering machine.
Regarding the web search system, it appears that Meta AI can draw results from both Google Search and Microsoft Bing. And just like those search engines, it seems to directly answer users’ questions and also present relevant one-tap search result suggestions in the chat window. The approach is similar to what offerings like Perplexity AI and Arc Search provide.
For instance, in a group chat with friends planning a trip, it can find flight and hotel details. It can also create images, just like how other text-to-image AI tools like Dall-E operate. But the most interesting aspect is that the image changes in real time as you type or modify the description of your prompt.
All you need to do is open a chat with Meta AI and type the command “/imagine” in the message field. To add some excitement, there’s also an “animate” command that brings pictures to life in the form of short animations – or more accurately, shareable GIFs. This is a nifty idea that infuses some original fun into conversations.
Taking a step further into the realm of social media, Facebook is adding a one-tap “Meta AI” button below public posts, along with contextual one-tap buttons that directly activate the chatbot. For example, a post about a mushroom recipe might have buttons saying “safety tips” and can directly launch the Meta AI window with a comprehensive wall of text about the best tips for identifying and safely storing mushrooms.
The best part about Meta AI’s rollout is that there are no hardware requirements or processing power limitations. Everything happens on cloud servers, and the features are equally accessible in apps available worldwide. The only drawback is the language barrier, but given Meta’s recent work with large language models, it’s only a matter of time before that issue is resolved as well.
And did I mention that it’s all free? Yes, that’s right. My only concern is what benefits Meta is reaping from this expansive global effort. Running generative AI models is currently one of the most expensive endeavors. Yes, Meta has no shortage of funds, but considering the company’s shaky record in user data protection and the limited supply of high-quality training material for AI, will these Meta AI interactions serve as educational fodder for more powerful models?
We don’t have the answers to these questions, nor can we predict them. But for now, we have to give credit to the company for truly democratizing generative AI in a meaningful and widely accessible way. This all-in-one approach to a multimodal AI tool doesn’t require any subscriptions or the hassle of multitasking, so there’s that convenience factor to consider as well.