If you use Meta's messaging and social media apps including Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, you've probably come across Meta AI. The tech giant has woven artificial intelligence into how you interact on these apps, including helping you with posts and editing your images.
Meta AI aims to go beyond basic AI chatbot functions and offer a multimodal, multilingual AI assistant that can handle complex tasks. The company's goal for Meta AI is to become your ultimate personal virtual assistant with free unlimited access to its AI models integrated into Meta's app family. Meta's whole shtick at last September's Connect 2024 event was to make AI tools more fun, accessible and user-friendly.
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Here's what to know about the social network company's AI tools.
Where you use Meta AI
Beyond its use in apps, Meta AI also refers to Meta's academic research laboratory. It was formerly known as Facebook Artificial Intelligence Research before Facebook's rebranding to Meta (Facebook, the company, not the social media platform) in October 2021. It focuses on the metaverse -- hence the name Meta -- and develops AI technology to power everything from chatbots to virtual reality and augmented reality experiences.
Meta AI isn't the only player in the race to integrate AI into everyday life. Google has its own tools, like Google Assistant and Gemini, its free chatbot, akin to ChatGPT.
While Google's AI focuses more on productivity like search results or managing schedules, Meta AI is embedded into your social interactions, offering assistance without you having to ask. With Meta AI, you can snap a photo and ask it to identify its details or edit the images with prompting.
A screenshot of Meta AI editing a photo via text requests
Screenshot by CNET
Similarly, Amazon's Alexa and Apple's Siri are task-oriented assistants, and ChatGPT or Snapchat's My AI help with conversational experience.
But Meta AI goes a step further, blending all those features to make it the "everyday experience," rather than a stand-alone tool. And so, while those other utility tools feel more like something you consciously use, Meta AI quietly shapes how you connect with others or create content. (Though Meta is also reportedly planning to release a stand-alone app like ChatGPT for Meta AI this year.)
It's almost sneaky in how it seamlessly integrates into social platforms people use daily, making AI tools harder to avoid. By simply typing "@" followed by Meta AI, you can summon the assistant in chats (even group chats) to offer suggestions, answer questions or edit images.
This AI integration also extends to the search functions within Meta's apps, making it more intuitive and easier to find content and explore topics based on what you see in your feed -- what Meta calls a "contextual experience."
Following ChatGPT's path, Meta AI now has natural voice conversations. It is multilingual, speaking English, French, German, Hindi, Hindi-Romanized script, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish. You can also choose from various celebrity voices for the assistant, including John Cena, Kristen Bell and Awkwafina.
Meta AI is currently available in 21 countries outside of the US: Argentina, Australia, Cameroon, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Ghana, India, Jamaica, Malawi, Mexico, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Singapore, South Africa, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Though Meta AI isn't available in the EU, the company says it might later join the EU's AI Pact. The AI Act requires companies to provide "detailed summaries" of the data used to train their models -- a requirement Meta has been hesitant to meet, likely due to its history with data privacy lawsuits.
Glasses as an AI device
One of the biggest announcements from Connect 2024 was how Meta AI is integrating into everyday products like its Ray-Ban Meta glasses. These glasses can assist users in various ways, like remembering where you parked your car (woohoo!).
In December, Meta announced the glasses are now able to do real-time live AI and translation, meaning if someone speaks to you in Spanish, French or Italian, you'll be able to hear them in your ear in English. Another major breakthrough is video dubbing in Reels in Spanish and English, with automated lip-syncing.
The glasses can also take actions based on what you're looking at. For example, you can ask AI to make a call or scan a QR code for you.
A screenshot of Meta AI identifying elements on a flyer
Meta
Other products include the Meta Quest S3 version of their stand-alone virtual reality headset, which, after the upgrades, are called a mixed-reality headset, and Orion, its prototype of holographic AR glasses, which has been in the making for over a decade.
Though Ray-Ban Meta glasses and Quest devices are available across 15 countries, including some European ones, Meta AI is currently available on those devices only in the US and Canada.
Meta's AI Studio
For now, this feature is available only in the US. Users and businesses will be able to create custom AI chatbots without needing extensive programming knowledge. These so-called AI characters will serve as extensions of themselves or their brands, enabling more engaging interactions with followers or customers.
A screenshot of a Meta AI chatbot chatting with a user
Screenshot by Barbara Pazur/CNET
In full transparency, all replies generated by AI will be marked as such.
Llama: the power behind Meta AI
Llama (Large Language Model Meta AI) is a family of LLMs designed to understand and generate human-like text, answer questions, write and even hold conversations.
Llama 3.3 is the latest version of this LLM. Released in December 2024, it crammed more power into a smaller size. It's "an instruction-tuned model."
"Llama 3.3 is a text-only 70B instruction-tuned model that provides enhanced performance relative to Llama 3.1 70B – and relative to Llama 3.2 90B when used for text-only applications," Meta said in its release notes.
The Llama 3.3 text-only model comes in a 70B parameter. Parameters are measured in billions, and define how the model processes inputs, like words or images, and generates outputs by adjusting relationships between them.
Meta also plans to release models with smaller parameters optimized for mobile devices and wearables like glasses.
How to turn off Meta AI
You can't completely disable Meta AI across the social media giant's apps, but you can mute the chatbot if you find it annoying. Here's how to do it across the different apps.
How to mute the AI chatbot on Facebook
Open the Facebook app.
Tap the magnifying glass icon for search.
Before you type anything in the search bar, the first suggested step underneath it will be to Ask Meta AI. Tap this.
Tap the i.
Tap the Mute bell icon and select how long you want Meta AI to be muted for.
How to mute the AI chatbot on Instagram
Open the Instagram app.
Tap the messaging icon in the top right corner.
Tap the rainbow circle in the left side of the search bar, and it all launch Meta AI.
Tap the i in the top right corner.
Tap the Mute bell icon.
Toggle the Mute messages option on and choose how long you want to mute them for.
How to mute the AI chatbot on WhatsApp
Launch the WhatsApp app.
Start a chat with Meta AI.
Tap on the Meta AI name at the top of the chat.
Tap Notifications.
Toggle the Mute notifications option on and choose how long you want to mute them for.
How to mute the AI chatbot on Messenger
Launch the Messenger app.
Tap the Meta AI chat.
Hit the i icon in the top right corner.
Tap the Mute bell icon and choose how long you want to mute them for.
What's next for Meta AI?
According to the company, Meta AI is set to become the world's most widely used AI assistant by the end of the year. Over 400 million people interact with Meta AI monthly, with 185 million using it across Meta's products each week.