Meta’s AI assistant has achieved a significant milestone. More than 1 billion individuals use Meta AI products every month, including Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger, as reported by CEO Mark Zuckerberg. This was announced on Wednesday at the company’s annual meeting with shareholders, according to CNBC.

This new figure indicates how quickly people are using Meta’s AI products, as it is a dramatic jump from 500 million people in September of 2024.

This feat also coincides with the launch of Meta’s independent Meta AI app, which serves to make the assistant more accessible outside of Meta’s core platforms. Zuckerberg shared the company’s vision moving forward:

He said.

“The focus for this year is deepening the experience and making Meta AI the leading personal AI with an emphasis on personalization, voice conversations, and entertainment.” 

In addition, he noted that Meta is now focusing on enhancing the AI experience before implementing it as a whole business plan. Zuckerberg did, however, hint at potential future developments, such as subscription-based services or even paid recommendations, which would enable users to access advanced AI capabilities or utilize additional processing capacity.

Zuckerberg added.

“There will be opportunities to either insert paid recommendations or launch a subscription service so that people can pay to use more compute,” 

If Meta follows this path, it could compete with other major AI programs, such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which already offers paid levels with additional features.

Our Opinion:

Meta reaching 1 billion AI users is a significant milestone, demonstrating how quickly people are becoming accustomed to incorporating AI into their daily digital lives. While it’s impressive, what’s even more interesting is where this could go next. If Meta starts charging for advanced features, it could shake up the AI market and give strong competition to existing players like ChatGPT. For now, users seem happy to explore what Meta AI can do,  but whether they’ll pay for it remains to be seen. One thing is clear: Meta is taking AI seriously and wants to lead the space.