Late last month, we saw hints of Meta AI being integrated into WhatsApp, or at least in a beta version of the app. More recently, the company previously known as Facebook has confirmed that it is testing its own generative AI model across not only the aforementioned messaging app, but also Instagram and Messenger.
TechCrunch reports that “the social media giant has been scrambling to roll out more AI services”, following the footsteps of competitors like OpenAI. Meta is noted to previously be doubtful about such LLM chatbots being “ready for prime time”, but changed its mind following the successes of ChatGPT and similar services by other companies.
Omg Meta just casually dropped it's AI powered by Llama on WhatsApp 😳🤯 pic.twitter.com/6DqnnSJ07l
— Nikhil Kumar (@nikhilkumarks) April 12, 2024
With that, the company is noted to want to push its own Meta AI initiative forward to not only retain users as well as investors. The company reportedly fears that lacking the hottest thing in tech would lead to both users and investors going away. The report also notes an element of pride behind the decision.
Instagram as well pic.twitter.com/O1PiU6pfoy
— neil mukti (@geometricmagic) April 12, 2024
All that being said, the report also notes that the rollout of Meta AI to the three services under its umbrella currently only applies to users in India, as well as parts of Africa. Some users from these regions have shared on X, formerly Twitter, with screenshots of the feature on WhatsApp and Instagram. Though it’s unclear if these are beta or general release versions. The report also does not mention if there is a timeline for when the social media giant intends to roll the feature out to other regions.
(Source: TechCrunch)
