Meta Brings Chatbots, Image Editing to Social Media Apps

tech.hindustantimes.com:

Meta Platforms Inc. is introducing artificial intelligence features to its apps that will give the company's 3 billion users an experience akin to OpenAI's ChatGPT.

Customized sticker creation, image editing and a slew of celebrity-faced chatbot characters – all infused with generative AI – are coming to Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp, the company said Wednesday at its annual Connect developers conference. Meta also introduced a developer studio for brands to build their own AI tools for the company's messaging services that can be used to chat with customers.

It's a critical announcement for Meta, demonstrating that it, too, can build AI-based technology that generates text and images based on simple prompts from users. Alphabet Inc.'s Google, Snap Inc. and Microsoft Corp. have already introduced various tools to capitalize on the public and investor interest in the nascent technology. Meta has been investing at record levels to build AI infrastructure behind the scenes, while Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg teased many of these consumer-facing ideas to try to make the case that the company is also a competitor in the AI race.

In recent earnings calls, the CEO has emphasized that the social media company has been working on AI technology for years, though this is the first time generative AI-focused consumer services have been the center of Meta's annual event. In the past, Connect has been focused on the metaverse, the name for a virtual online world from which Zuckerberg derived the new name of his company.

Last year, viewers with an Oculus headset could watch the keynote speeches in the company's virtual reality space, Horizon Worlds — a potentially harrowing experience for first-time users. Most of the event