Meta didn’t wait for a presentation at LlamaCon on Tuesday to make its first major AI announcement this week. The company has launched a standalone app that competes with ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and other multimodal AI chatbots. Sticking to the company’s roots, the app also includes a social feed and the ability to use information from your profile and posts you have shared.
The Meta AI app offers similar features to competing chatbots, including text and voice chats, real-time internet access, and the ability to create and edit images. But it also includes a Discover feed that (for better or worse) adds a social element to your AI queries. The company describes it as “a place to share and learn how others are using AI.” It highlights tips shared by others and allows you to “remix them to make them your own.”
Meta emphasizes that none of your private chats will be published to other users’ feeds unless you explicitly choose to share them.
For users in the United States and Canada, Meta AI may personalize its responses based on data you have shared with Meta products. This includes information about your social profile and the content you like or interact with. The company claims that linking your Facebook and Instagram accounts to one Meta AI account will provide “an even more personalized experience.” If you don’t want this, now is the time to check your privacy settings.
The app has a live conversation mode for users in the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Similar to a similar feature in ChatGPT and Gemini, Meta’s version allows you and the AI assistant to listen and speak simultaneously, with a natural flow that is meant to be more like a real conversation. However, Meta only describes it as a demo that gives you a “glimpse into the future,” which suggests that it is still in early development. This mode also does not offer real-time web access.
The web version of Meta AI includes new features of the program, including voice interaction and the Discover feed. This version has several differences, including improved image generation (more presets and new modes for editing style, mood, lighting, and colors). The web version also allows you to test an advanced document editor (in some countries) that can export text- and image-rich documents to PDF format.
The app has teamed up with the Meta View app for the company’s collaboration with Ray-Ban glasses. The company claims that it will have a conversation transfer feature that will allow you to start a conversation with the glasses and then access it in the history tab in the app or on the web. After installing the update, you will be able to control the glasses in the Devices tab of the Meta AI app.
