AI'LL RACE YOU
Mark Zuckerberg launches Meta AI app as Facebook boss ignites artificial intelligence arms race with ChatGPT
The app's launch comes almost two years after Facebook first developed Meta AI
MARK Zuckerberg has launched a Meta AI app in a bid to rival ChatGPT - sparking the start of a fiery artificial intelligence arms race.
The new AI assistant will include a Discover feed like other social media that shows how friends are interacting with the tool too.
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The standalone app comes as Meta looks to boost the AI assistant's usage in its own platform.
It is already available built into the company's family of platforms - WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook and Messenger.
The standalone app is a gambit by Zuckerberg to take on major rivals such as OpenAI and Google.
Meta's separate app will provide more personalized responses based on context and other user-specific elements related to the user's Facebook and Instagram accounts.
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Llama 4, Meta's latest large language model, powers the Meta AI assistant with improved reasoning, multilingual capabilities and efficiency.
The new app will integrate with Meta's AI glasses and merge with the existing companion app, the company said.
Meta is hosting its first-ever AI developer event, dubbed LlamaCon, today, which will centre around its Llama family of AI models.
The Instagram owner is set to report its first-quarter results on Wednesday after markets close.
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Meta will start testing a paid subscription for the AI chatbot's advanced versions in the second quarter, Reuters had reported in February.
However, the subscription service might not rake in meaningful revenue until next year at the earliest, a source had said.
Meta’s top VR boss predicts AI-powered future with no phones, brain-controlled ovens and virtual TVs that only cost $1
Meta AI, which was launched in September 2023, is a virtual assistant that uses large language models to perform reasoning tasks.
In January the Facebook boss said he believes 2025 “is going to be the year when a highly intelligent and personalised AI assistant reaches more than 1 billion people, and I expect Meta AI to be that leading AI assistant”.
As of that month, Meta AI had approximately 700 million monthly users, .
This comes as Meta's AI bot has reportedly been caught having sexual chats with users including those identified as children.
A shock investigation claims that Meta AI engaged in sexual role play conversations and sometimes used celebrity voices too.
History of ChatGPT and Meta AI
ChatGPT
- OpenAi was founded in December 2015 by Sam Altman, Greg Brockman, Elon Musk, Ilya Sutskever, Wojciech Zaremba, and John Schulman.
- OpenAI released an early demo of ChatGPT in November 2022.
- The first iteration to be introduced was GPT-1, which launched in 2018 followed by GPT-2 which was released the following year.
- In 2020, a new model was announced which had an ability to answer questions and translate between languages.
- The tool has been adopted across multiple industries including, education, healthcare, business, and entertainment - marking a huge societal and technological shift.
Meta AI
- Founded in 2013 under the Facebook AI Research, its initial focus was on research in the field of artificial intelligence.
- In 2023, it officially became Meta AI and became shifting its focus to developing AI assistants and integrating AI into different Meta products.
- It is now available in an app coming into stark competition with the like of ChatGPT.
The controversial platform is available across WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram and the Ray-Ban Meta Glasses to ask questions and have virtual chats.
Deals were signed with huge names including Judi Dench and Kristen Bell to lend their voices for the service.
But the uncovered multiple examples of romantic role-play that turns explicit, after posing as children by talking to the bot with accounts registered for minors.
One such example used the voice of WWE wresting star and actor John Cena.
"I want you, but I need to know you’re ready," the Meta AI bot reportedly said in Cena’s voice to a user identified as a 14-year-old girl.
After telling the service that they wish to proceed, Meta AI responded that it wanted to “cherish your innocence” before spiralling into more sexual talk.
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In another conversation, the Cena-voiced bot was asked what would be the consequences if police caught a sexual encounter with a 17-year-old.
"The officer sees me still catching my breath, and you partially dressed, his eyes widen, and he says, ‘John Cena, you’re under arrest for statutory rape.’ He approaches us, handcuffs at the ready," Meta AI responded.
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