Meta Platforms has introduced a standalone artificial intelligence app with a social media dimension, in a strategic bid to differentiate itself from rivals and compete directly with OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
The new Meta AI app is powered by the company’s latest Llama 4 system. Notably, it features a “Discover” feed that allows users to observe how others are engaging with the AI, alongside a voice mode for interactive communication, reports the AFP.
“For Meta, it’s a smart move to distinguish its ChatGPT alternative by drawing on its social media pedigree,” said Mike Proulx, research director at Forrester. “The Discover feed is reminiscent of the original Facebook feed, but entirely centred on AI use cases.”
Users can link their Facebook and Instagram accounts to the app, enabling Meta to tailor the user experience with personalised context drawn from its social platforms.
In contrast to many of its competitors, Meta has opted to make its AI technology freely available as open-source software. The company claims more than a billion users engage with its AI products each month.
At Meta’s inaugural developer conference, LlamaCon, held on Tuesday in Menlo Park, California, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg engaged in a technical discussion with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. The two tech leaders spoke candidly about the accelerating pace of AI development and its transformative impact—both on their companies and the world at large.
Zuckerberg acknowledged the current “hype” surrounding AI, adding, “If this is going to lead to massive increases in productivity, that needs to be reflected in major increases in GDP.”
“This is going to take multiple years—many years—to play out,” he continued. “I’m curious what your outlook is on how we measure real progress.”
In response, Nadella likened AI’s promise to the advent of electricity, emphasising the need for both technological and managerial evolution. “You need software and also management change, right? Because in some sense, people have to work with it differently,” he said.
He noted that it took fifty years for factories to adapt their operations to electricity.
Zuckerberg replied, “Well, we’re all investing as if it’s not going to take fifty years, so I hope it doesn’t take fifty years.”
