Mark Zuckerberg vows that Meta is very much all-in on AI

Between open-sourced AI models with animal names and guest spots from the likes of Snoop Dogg and Paris Hilton, Meta has carved out an idiosyncratic and perhaps more whimsical lane in Silicon Valley’s race to own the next wave of AI.

Sure, much of the attention in this week’s earnings call went to Meta’s core business of advertising—for which the company put up strong numbers—and some worries about how the Israel-Hamas war could affect the next quarter, which subsequently sent the stock spiraling. But Mark Zuckerberg also seemed hyped to talk AI—and analysts had some questions about Meta’s plans there.

Forget the namesake metaverse: In the earnings call, Zuckerberg only used the term thrice. AI, however, merited nearly 70 mentions, and Zuckerberg said it will be the “biggest investment area in 2024.” Rather than hiring new people to manage this push, the Meta CEO said the company will continue “deprioritizing a number of non-AI projects” and reassign those workers to AI efforts.

While many tech giants’ plans center on one key assistant—ChatGPT, GPT-4, or Bard—woven throughout their products, Meta boasts more of an ensemble cast. The company does have a new all-purpose assistant called Meta AI, but it’s also building business chatbots, AI personas of real-life celebrities, and even imagined AI characters.

“We think that having a basic assistant is really important, but we think that…there are going to be lots of different AIs that people interact with,” Zuckerberg said. “We think ultimately, most creators are going to want one to help grow and engage their community. We think most businesses are going to want one to help support their customers and help drive commerce. So we think that there are going to be a lot of different AIs.”

Analysts were naturally curious about how all of this expensive AI might start to eventually make money for the company. Zuckerberg said he sees these AIs boosting the engagement and scale of the company’s various messaging products as people start to chat with them, include them in group chats, and interact with the content on AI-generated profiles.

“That’s going to be an interesting dynamic and…almost a new kind of medium and art form,” Zuckerberg said. “Of course, whenever there’s more engagement in the apps, that creates the opportunity for more monetization.”

He also mentioned business messaging from specialized AI chatbots serving as customer service hubs for brands on the platform.

In response to another analyst question, Zuckerberg said it’s hard to predict how exactly this AI push will rank among Facebook’s various big efforts over the years—the emphasis on stories and reels, for example—but he asserted generative AI tech will come to change every aspect of Meta’s sprawling empire, from social feeds to messaging to ads.

As has become the norm in recent earnings calls, the company’s foray into metaverse seemed to be more of an afterthought.

“Finally, in addition to AI, our other major long-term focus is the metaverse,” Zuckerberg said near the end of his remarks.