The AI Effect: Mark Zuckerberg Set To Change The Game For WhatsApp, Messenger And More

Meta Platforms Inc.’s META CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, has been busy exploring the potential of artificial intelligence to enhance the user experience on WhatsApp, Facebook, Messenger and Instagram — and he plans to continue doing the same. 

What Happened: During the first-quarter earnings call on Wednesday, Zuckerberg expressed interest in integrating AI agents into the company’s flagship apps, citing the potential for usefulness and meaning. “I think this (AI) is literally going to touch every single one of our products and services in multiple ways.”

However, he was not specific about the implementation of generative AI. 

See Also: Zuckerberg’s Life-Changing Advice To Young People

“We’re exploring chat experiences in WhatsApp and Messenger, visual creation tools for posts in Facebook and Instagram and ads, and over time video and multi-modal experiences as well,” Zuckerberg said.

He anticipates that AI agents will be “valuable” individuals, businesses and creators alike. He envisions potential applications in business messaging, customer support and the metaverse, where he believes people will have more creative freedom to create avatars, objects, worlds and code.

Why It’s Important: Speaking about the current integration of AI, Meta CEO said, “Now, more than 20% of the content in your Facebook and Instagram feeds are recommended by AI from people groups or accounts that you don’t follow. Across all of Instagram, that’s about 40% of the content that you see.”

According to Zuckerberg, Instagram experienced over 24% growth in user engagement since the introduction of Reels, which is largely attributed to the implementation of AI-powered recommendations. 

He also said that the company’s AI efforts contribute to improved monetization, with Reels monetization efficiency rising by over 30% on Instagram and over 40% on Facebook in a quarter-over-quarter comparison.

Zuckerberg also addressed the notion of Meta shifting its focus away from the metaverse and called it incorrect by citing the upcoming release of the next Quest VR Headset. 

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