In November of last year, OpenAI’s ChatGPT made a huge impact in the world of artificial intelligence, followed by Google’s Bard. Now, Meta has entered the AI race with their own creation, Meta AI. This new chatbot is currently being tested in beta across various Meta apps, such as Messenger, WhatsApp, and Instagram.
What is Meta AI?
Meta AI is Meta’s conversational assistant based on Llama 2 and the company’s latest large language model (LLM) research. In text-based chats, Meta AI has access to real-time information through Meta’s search partnership with Bing and offers a tool for image generation.
You can interact with the Meta AI assistant like you do with someone. It is available on WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram, and is coming soon to Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses and newly unveiled Quest 3.
Along with Meta AI, there are 28 more AIs that you can message on WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram. “You can think of these AIs as a new cast of characters – all with unique backstories”, said Meta. The company says that it has partnered with cultural icons and influencers to play and embody some of these AIs. These personalities include:
- Charli D’Amelio as Coco, a Dance enthusiast
- Chris Paul as Perry, a Pro golfer helping you perfect your stroke
- Dwyane Wade as Victor, an Ironman triathlete, motivating you to be your best self
- Izzy Adesanya as Luiz, a Showy MMA prospect who can back up his trash talk
- Kendall Jenner as Billie, No-BS, ride-or-die companion
- LaurDIY as Dylan, Quirky DIY and Craft expert and companion for Gen Z
- MrBeast as Zach, The big brother who will roast you — because he cares
- Naomi Osaka as Tamika, Anime-obsessed Sailor Senshi in training
- Paris Hilton as Amber, Detective partner for solving whodunnits
- Raven Ross as Angie, a Workout class queen who balances fitness with meditation
- Roy Choi as Max, Seasoned sous chef for culinary tips and tricks
- Sam Kerr as Sally, Free-spirited friend who’ll tell you when to take a deep breath
- Snoop Dogg as Dungeon Master, Choose your adventure with the Dungeon Master
- Tom Brady as Bru, a Wisecracking sports debater who pulls no punches
Meta further noted that its AIs’ knowledge base – with the exception of Meta AI, Bru, and Perry – is limited to information that largely existed prior to 2023, which means some of the AI’s responses may be dated. The organisation will expand its search to many more of its AIs in the coming months.
Meta AI: Availability
Meta has already started rolling these AIs out in beta in the United States today. The company will add new characters in the coming weeks, played by Bear Grylls, Chloe Kim, and Josh Richards, among others.
AI stickers on WhatsApp, Instagram and more
Then, Meta also announced new AI stickers that enable you to generate customised stickers for your chats and stories. Using technology from Llama 2 and the brand’s foundational model for image generation called Emu, the new AI tool from Mets turns your text prompts into multiple unique, high-quality stickers in a matter of seconds.
This new feature will be rolling out to select English-language users in WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, and Facebook Stories over the next month.
New AI features in Instagram
Restyle and backdrop are the two new features that are coming soon to Instagram. They use the technology from Emu. Meta describes Restyle as a feature that lets you “reimagine your images by applying the visual styles you describe”. Meta also gave two instances of how you can use it where you give it a command to apply a “watercolour” effect to your photo or a more detailed prompt like “collage from magazines and newspapers, torn edges” to describe the new look and feel of the image you want to create.
Backdrop, however, changes the scene or background of your image. Prompts like “Put me in front of a sublime aurora borealis” or “Surrounded by puppies” will cue the tool to create an image of the primary subject in the foreground with the background you described.
The Mark Zuckerberg-led company further notes that the images created with restyle and backdrop will indicate the use of AI to reduce the chances of people mistaking them for human-generated content. “We’re also experimenting with forms of visible and invisible markers”, said Meta.
AI for third-party developers
Meta then announced AI studio, where it is opening doors for people outside of Meta – coders and non-coders alike – to build AIs. “Developers will be able to build third-party AIs for our Messaging services with our APIs in the coming weeks, starting on Messenger then expanding to WhatsApp”.
“Businesses will also be able to create AIs that reflect their brand’s values and improve customer service experiences. From small businesses looking to scale to large brands wanting to enhance communications, AIs can help businesses engage with their customers across our apps. We’re launching this in alpha and will scale it further next year”, said the company.
Meta is also building a sandbox that will be released in the coming year, enabling anyone to experiment with creating their AI.