Meta says it’s experimenting with AI-powered chat on WhatsApp and Messenger

No business is immune to the wave of generative AI, and everyone wants to be part of it. Meta is the latest entrant to test AI-powered tools for its products. Mark Zuckerberg has announced that the company is building “a new high-level product group” to integrate generative AI into its services used by billions of users.

Zuckerberg said the team will initially focus on creating creative tools, but its long-term goal is to create “AI characters that can help people in different ways.” The company, however, needs to do a lot of groundwork before sharing these “futuristic” experiences with users, he warned.

The company is starting by testing text-based AI tools on WhatsApp and Messenger – presumably ChatGPT-style chatbots. While this might be a fun use case for users, Meta could also potentially leverage these features by offering them to businesses in areas such as sales and customer support.

Meta is also experimenting with AI-assisted filters and ad formats on Instagram as well as “video and multimodal experiences.”

According to Axios, the project will be led by former Apple executive Ahmad Al-Dahle, and the team will report to Chief Product Officer Chris Cox.

While generative AI tools have been around for a while, the technology only found mainstream stardom with OpenAI’s ChatGPT bot. Microsoft has already integrated some of this AI quality into Bing search and the Edge browser. In response, earlier this month, Google also said it was experimenting with a competing product called Bard. Other search engines like You.com and Neeva have also announced AI-powered chat product integrations. Facebook rival Snapchat also launched a custom-trained chatbot for its paying subscribers this month.

It’s no surprise to see Meta go on the AI ​​offensive. Zuckerberg’s big bet on the metaverse has yet to pay off, and the company will need to find new ways to generate revenue. Last week it launched the Meta Verified subscription program, but as we’ve seen with other social networks, paid plans have yet to show any semblance of a major revenue stream.