Meta unveiled its new artificial intelligence assistant, known as Meta AI, to be integrated within its suite of social media platforms, including Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, and Messenger.
Meta AI has been engineered to perform a variety of tasks, such as responding to user inquiries, producing images, crafting animations and more, as per the announcement by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. The assistant is powered by Meta’s most recent large language model, named Meta Llama 3, which was concurrently revealed on the same day.
Positioned to rival existing AI services like Google’s Gemini and OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Meta AI distinguishes itself by collaborating with both Microsoft and Google to integrate their search engine capabilities into the service. In his statement, Zuckerberg claimed that Meta AI is now the most sophisticated free AI assistant available.

The design of Meta AI allows for seamless integration into the search features of WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger apps, making it accessible for users to pose questions directly through the interface of these applications.
Meta highlighted potential uses for the assistant, such as obtaining restaurant suggestions, planning vacations, or seeking ideas for apartment decoration.
In addition to its availability across Meta’s social media platforms, Meta AI can also be accessed via its dedicated website: meta.ai. Users can engage with the assistant for various purposes, including academic assistance or professional writing support. Conversations with the assistant can also be logged for future reference.

A noteworthy feature soon to be in beta testing is the assistant’s capability to generate images on WhatsApp and the MetaAI website. As users begin to type, an image will show up, with MetaAI providing prompts to adjust or fine-tune the imagery. These images can be further animated into GIFs, which can then be shared with others.
Meta AI is being rolled out in English in over a dozen countries, including the United States, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada, starting today.