Bengaluru (Staff Correspondent): Social media giant Meta Platforms has launched a new standalone app for its AI-based virtual assistant. Through this move, Meta is now preparing to take on companies like OpenAI and Google directly. This new app of Meta will be different from the AI assistant already present in the company’s existing social media platforms – WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram and Messenger – and will provide a dedicated experience to the users.
This move of Meta is being seen as a strategy of its CEO Mark Zuckerberg in which the company wants to compete strongly with its competitors in the field of AI. AI chatbots like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini are already present in the market and are becoming increasingly popular. In such a situation, this new app of Meta is considered an important effort towards further expanding the technical strength of the company.
Better personalization and context-based answers
The new AI app will give users a more personalized experience based on their Facebook and Instagram profiles. It will answer keeping in mind the user’s interests, followed accounts and interaction history, making its use more effective and accurate. The company believes that this feature will make Meta AI different from other competing chatbots and more useful.
Technical strength will be provided by Llama 4 model
This new AI assistant is powered by Meta’s latest large language model – Llama 4 (LLaMA 4). This model is equipped with features like better reasoning ability, multi-language support and faster processing. Meta says that this model is capable of challenging advanced AI models like OpenAI’s GPT-4, Google’s Gemini, DeepSeek and Anthropic.
According to Meta, this new app will also be integrated with the company’s AI-enabled smart glasses in the future, allowing users to use AI with voice commands or visual input. In addition, the app will also connect with Meta’s existing AI companion apps, giving the user an integrated experience.
LlamaCon: First AI Summit for Developers
On Tuesday, Meta held its first AI developer conference “LlamaCon”. The event focused specifically on the company’s LLaMA models and related tools. The conference aims to deeply involve developers in AI technology and advance the LLaMA ecosystem.
Future plans: Paid subscription and revenue model
Meta is going to start trialing a paid subscription model for advanced versions of its AI chatbot in the second quarter. However, according to a source associated with the company, this service is unlikely to generate any significant revenue before 2025.
It is worth noting that Meta first launched its AI assistant “Meta AI” in September 2023. It is a virtual assistant that provides reasoning, information and dialogue with the help of large language models.
