Meta AI Bot Hits 1 Billion Monthly Users, Says Mark Zuckerberg

SAN FRANCISCO: Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, highlighted the company’s generative artificial intelligence (Gen AI) assistant on Wednesday, revealing that it serves one billion users each month across their platforms.

Zuckerberg reiterated this achievement during Meta’s annual shareholder meeting, as the company competes with tech giants like Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI to lead in the Gen AI space.

It’s unclear how many of these users actively engage with the chatbot versus those who passively use Meta AI, which is integrated into various features within the company’s app ecosystem.

Since Google introduced AI Overviews in search results last year, it has reportedly attracted over 1.5 billion users, as stated by CEO Sundar Pichai.

“That means Google Search is bringing Gen AI to more users than any other product globally,” Pichai noted.

Google’s AI Overviews automatically generate summaries of search results, replacing the previous format that displayed just a list of relevant website links.

Pichai mentioned last week that Google’s dedicated Gemini AI application has surpassed 400 million monthly users.

Despite ongoing concerns over misinformation and the challenges of establishing business models, tech competitors are swiftly launching new AI solutions, with little understanding of the broader societal implications.

Meta launched its first standalone AI assistant app on April 29, offering users direct access to its Gen AI models.

“With a billion people currently using Meta AI across our apps, we created a new standalone Meta AI app for you to explore,” Zuckerberg stated in a video on Instagram.

He described the app as “designed to be your personal AI,” primarily accessible through voice interactions tailored to individual users.

According to Chief Financial Officer Susan Li, Meta AI is gaining the most traction on WhatsApp.

“Our goal this year is to enhance the experience and establish Meta AI as the leading personal AI,” Zuckerberg declared during Meta’s quarterly earnings announcement at the end of April.