Meta takes aim at ChatGPT with its new AI app

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Meta has launched a new standalone app for its AI assistant, Meta AI, which works similarly to other popular tools like ChatGPT. 

You can chat with it by typing or speaking, ask it to create images, and even get up-to-date information from the web.

What makes Meta AI different is a new feature called the Discover feed. This adds a social media twist to the app. 

In the feed, you can see AI conversations and results that other users, including your Instagram and Facebook friends, have chosen to share. 

You can like, comment on, and remix these shared AI-generated posts, encouraging users to explore what the AI can do. 

According to Meta’s VP of product, Connor Hayes, the goal is to help people better understand and get inspired by AI.

Meta isn’t the only company blending AI with social media. Elon Musk’s X has done something similar with its Grok AI, and OpenAI is also planning a social feed for ChatGPT. But Meta is the first major player to fully lean into the idea of social AI.

The Meta AI app also emphasizes voice interactions. A special “voice mode” is available in beta, making conversations feel more natural, like talking to a real person. 

This is thanks to Meta’s research in “full-duplex” AI, which lets users and the AI speak more freely with overlapping speech and quick responses. 

While this mode doesn’t pull information from the web yet, it adds a more human feel to the experience.

In the US and Canada, Meta uses your Facebook and Instagram activity to tailor the assistant’s responses to you. 

Like ChatGPT, you can also tell Meta AI to remember personal details for future chats.

Rather than being a brand-new app, Meta AI replaces the View app used for Ray-Ban smart glasses. You can still access your photos and videos taken with the glasses. 

Meta combined the two apps because it sees AI as something that should blend software and hardware. 

In fact, it’s planning new smart glasses with even more advanced features later this year.

Does this AI app from Meta excite you? Or are you happy with one of the many existing AI apps? We want to hear your thoughts on the matter below in the comments, or via our Twitter or Facebook.