Meta Takes on ChatGPT By Releasing a Standalone AI App: 'A Long Journey' Meta AI is already available across Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, with nearly a billion users.
By Sherin Shibu Edited by Melissa Malamut
Key Takeaways
- Meta released a standalone AI app on Tuesday that is currently available for download in app stores.
- The app allows users to access Meta AI without going through a Meta platform like Facebook or WhatsApp.
Meta is taking on OpenAI's ChatGPT, Google's Gemini, and xAI's Grok with the new Meta AI app.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg shared in an Instagram video that almost a billion people currently use Meta AI across apps like Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp to get answers to questions, generate AI images, and write posts. This led the company, he says, to create a new, standalone AI app, which is now available on the iOS and Android app stores.
Meta announced the app at its LlamaCon event on Tuesday, and it has since surpassed 500,000 downloads on the Android app store at the time of writing.
The voice-centered app enables users to access Meta AI without going through one of Meta's social platforms, like Instagram. Users get started by logging in with their email address, or Facebook or Instagram accounts.
Related: Meta Is Testing AI That Can Catch Teenagers Trying to Get Around Age Rules on Instagram
Through the app, users can talk to Meta AI about anything, from news to personal issues to topics of interest, through voice or text. The AI chatbot is personalized to individual users and learns more about their interests through interactions over time.
Still, Zuckerberg notes that the app is in its early stages.
"This is the beginning of what's going to be a long journey to build this out," Zuckerberg said in the Instagram video.
The Meta AI app includes a Discover social feed for users to share their interactions with Meta AI, from generating images to obtaining text responses. It additionally has an option for users to manage their Ray-Ban Meta glasses through the app.
Competitor ChatGPT also has a voice mode, which was first unveiled in September 2023. However, Meta is trying to differentiate itself by using its vast app and algorithm network to collect a user's information, such as their Facebook profile and what they liked on Instagram, to help personalize recommendations. (Users can opt out of this by not adding their Facebook or Instagram accounts to their Meta AI app profile.)
Meta's competitors in the AI app space include Elon Musk's xAI, which released its AI app earlier this year, and Google, which launched its Gemini app in February 2024.
