Hey there, fellow tech enthusiasts! It looks like Meta, formerly known as Facebook, is gearing up to introduce AI agents to billions of people. During the company’s earnings call for the first quarter of this year, CEO Mark Zuckerberg shared his vision for incorporating generative AI into Meta’s apps. While he didn’t provide many specifics, Zuckerberg did mention that they are exploring chat experiences in WhatsApp and Messenger, visual creation tools for posts in Facebook and Instagram, and ads, with plans to expand to video and multi-modal experiences over time.

Although Meta initially lagged behind in building the infrastructure needed to support these AI features, Zuckerberg assured investors that they are no longer behind and teased that generative AI products will be released in the coming months. The success of OpenAI’s ChatGPT has made generative AI a hot trend in the tech industry, with big players like Google and smaller ones like Snap also racing to build competing applications. While Meta has released an AI language model called LLaMA to researchers, they have yet to debut anything resembling ChatGPT that is widely accessible.

Zuckerberg also hinted at how generative AI could speed up WhatsApp’s customer support business, stating that once the ability for tens of millions of AI agents acting on their behalf is enabled, more businesses can afford to engage in chat. Despite pivoting towards AI like the rest of the industry, Meta isn’t giving up on the metaverse. Zuckerberg clarified that the company is still committed to its development, as evidenced by the upcoming release of the next Quest VR headset later this year.

Meta reported $28.6 billion in revenue and a record 2 billion daily users of the Facebook app during Q1 of this year, beating Wall Street’s estimates. However, their profit for the quarter was $5.7 billion, a 24 percent decrease from the same time last year. Meta’s Reality Labs division also reported a net loss of $4 billion last quarter, with operating losses expected to increase year over year in 2023.

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