Meta AI Assistant Adds Website, Expands Beyond US

Meta has introduced the latest version of its artificial intelligence (AI) assistant, Meta AI, powered by the latest advances with its large language model (LLM), Meta Llama 3.

The assistant is free and can be used on Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, the company said in a Thursday (April 18) press release.

It’s also now available on a website, meta.ai, for use on computers, according to the release.

In addition, Meta AI is being offered in more countries. Previously available only in the United States, the assistant is being rolled out in English in more than a dozen other countries, the release said.

These updates are limited to Meta AI on Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger, and on the web; Meta AI is also available in the U.S. on Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses. It will soon be available on Meta Quest as well, per the release.

“With our most powerful large language model under the hood, Meta AI is better than ever,” Meta said in the press release. “We’re excited to share our next-generation assistant with even more people and can’t wait to see how it enhances people’s lives.”

In addition, the AI assistant’s image generation is now faster — fast enough to produce images as the user types, the release said. This feature is now available in beta on WhatApp and the Meta AI website in the U.S.

With Meta AI integrated into the company’s apps, it can be used in feed, chats, search, and other functions without having to leave the app, per the release.

“You can access real-time information from across the web without having to bounce between apps,” Meta said in the press release. “Let’s say you’re planning a ski trip in your Messenger group chat. Using search in Messenger you can ask Meta AI to find flights to Colorado from New York and figure out the least crowded weekends to go — all without leaving the Messenger app.”

Meta launched the beta version of Meta AI in September 2023, saying the advanced conversational assistant could provide users with real-time information and generate photorealistic images from users’ text prompts in seconds.