According to media reports, Meta will release its own standalone AI chatbot in the second quarter of this year, with subscription services also expected to be part of the plan.
Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta is set to develop its own standalone AI app to compete with OpenAI’s ChatGPT, according to media reports.
Citing sources familiar with the matter, CNBC reported that the app, called Meta AI, will be released during the second quarter of 2025 and is part of the company’s plans to become a leader in Artificial Intelligence by the end of the year.
Its competitors include names such as the Sam Altman-led OpenAI and Google’s parent company, Alphabet.
The Meta AI chatbot was released in 2023 as a virtual assistant that makes use of large language models. The reported upcoming release will be of a standalone app, which will sit alongside the company’s other apps, such as Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.
Meanwhile, a paid subscription service allowing users to access more advances versions of the chatbot will begin testing in the second quarter of the year, according to Reuters, with no meaningful revenue expected to be earned until at least next year.
In January, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that the company would spend between $60 and $65 billion this year to fuel its AI expansion.
EU regulatory headache
An exclusive Euronews report this week found that Meta is under the European regulatory spotlight for potentially breaching European consumers’ data protection rules.
Some 5,000 Facebook users filed complaints in Germany, Norway and Spain over the use of their personal data for marketing purposes, which were transferred to the Irish data protection authority where Facebook has its headquarters.
In relation to its AI model development in particular, Meta faced complaints in 11 European countries in mid-2024. The complains alleged that the company was seeking to use its platform users’ personal data to train AI models.
Legal action was launched after Meta updated its privacy policy asking to take all public and non-public user data – with the exception of chats between individuals – that it has collected since 2007 and use it for current and future “artificial intelligence technology,” Austrial privacy advocates NOYB said at the time.
US tech giants have recently been at loggerheads with EU regulators. Meta’s global policy chief, Joel Kaplan, said in a recent interview that Europe’s regulation against US tech companies is pushing the continent “to the sidelines.”
