Meta Launches AI App With Social Feed
Generative AI needs your data, Meta has already got it.
In direct competition with OpenAI’s ChatGPT app, Meta has finally launched its app for Meta AI, built with its Llama 4 LLM. Equipped with a suite of new features, including the Discover feed and full-duplex speech technology. The news comes shortly after the tech company shared that it would begin to use public posts and comments shared by adults across its platforms would be used to train its artificial intelligence models in the European Union.
The Discover feed brings a new social component to Meta’s AI initiatives, offering a peek at how friends and personal networks are using Meta AI, posting prompts, questions, and generated content chosen by users. In an official release, Meta said “Meta AI is built to get to know you, so its answers are more helpful. It’s easy to talk to, so it’s more seamless and natural to interact with. It’s more social, so it can show you things from the people and places you care about.” Key to the new app is improved conversational tone and personalized knowledge. The full-duplex speech mode, which can be switched on and off, delivers a natural voice experience trained on interpersonal dialogue.
Along with being able to search the web to inform its responses, Meta AI can also tap into information you’ve chosen to share on Meta platforms, like your profile, and content you like or engage with. “If you’ve added your Facebook and Instagram accounts to the same Accounts Center, Meta AI can draw from both to provide an even stronger personalized experience for you,” the company said. With Meta AI integrated into Meta’s social platforms, AI Glasses, and now the app, the company says it is aiming to establish an interoperable Meta AI ecosystem, allowing users to seamlessly move between platforms.
Since the introduction of ChatGPT in 2022, OpenAI’s advanced generative AI products have taken the tech world by storm, opening the floor for discourse regarding privacy, IP, and sustainability. Though OpenAI has been criticized for features like its Studio Ghibli-esque image editor and training its models on the work of independent artists, Meta’s recent announcements regarding model training via public posts and profiles have prompted concerns regarding data privacy.
Unlike OpenAI, Meta holds access to some of the world’s most popular social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp, which provide Meta with the data needed to create highly personalized social AI. However, Meta emphasizes that users will be granted individual control of what kinds of personal data are used.
