Source: AFP
Meta launched its AI chatbots, which were voiced by Hollywood celebrities such as John Cena and Judi Dench on Wednesday, betting that its billions of users are eager to embrace artificial intelligence.
“I think that voice has the potential to be one of, if not the most, frequent way we all interact with AI,” Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg said at the company’s annual product launch event .
“It’s much better,” he said.
The development comes months after OpenAI previewed its own ChatGPT voice feature, which sparked controversy for its similarity to actress Scarlett Johansson’s voice.
Meta has been licensed by the stars featured in its new voice tool, which will be available on Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp.
However, Meta AI will not be accessible in Europe due to concerns about compliance with EU data protection law and potential fines.
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Meta’s AI is based on content and data from the legions of users of its platforms, a practice that involves many obligations and safeguards in Europe.
400 million users
Like ChatGPT or Google’s Gemini, Meta AI is an artificial intelligence assistant that answers questions, creates images, writes messages and even provides companionship.
This new version is based on the original version that was revealed a year ago. Meta says that over 400 million people already consult Meta AI at least once a month, and the company aims to make it “the most widely used AI assistant by the end of the year.”
Critics, however, point out that many users stumble upon MetaAI by mistake, as it has replaced the search function in apps like WhatsApp.
Since the discovery of ChatGPT, major tech companies are rapidly developing AI applications capable of generating high-quality content from simple queries.
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Competition is fierce, with Google and Microsoft having an edge in productivity capabilities and Apple entering the market with AI-enabled iPhones.
However, these models require significant technical infrastructure, energy and skilled engineers, which significantly affect the company’s resources.
Meta believes its augmented assistant sounds more natural, can interact verbally and analyze images. Like other chatbots, it can suggest recipes from food photos or edit images based on simple user requests.
Despite concerns about heavy spending on artificial intelligence and virtual reality, Meta’s profits have soared, with its share price up 60% since the start of the year. The company’s success is based on strong advertising results.
However, the social media giant’s heavy spending on AI and virtual reality technology has always been a concern for investors and observers.
“When I think of artificial intelligence, Meta is not necessarily the first brand that comes to mind,” Creative Strategies analyst Carolina Milanesi told AFP.
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“And their biggest hurdle will be privacy and trust: many consumers will have problems trusting that data is not being used for other purposes.”
Source: AFP
