Meta has thrown its hat firmly into the ring of the competitive world of Artificial Intelligence with the recent launch of a major update to its Meta AI assistant and the underlying large language model, Llama 3. This move signals Meta’s serious intent to be a major player in the AI industry.
The upgrade brings the Meta AI assistant to the forefront, integrating it across Meta’s core platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Whatsapp, and Messenger. Users can now interact with the AI assistant through search bars, message inboxes, and even directly within the Facebook feed. A standalone web app has also been launched for the first time, providing a dedicated space for users to explore the assistant’s capabilities.
The true powerhouse behind the assistant is Llama 3, the next iteration of Meta’s foundational open-source large language model. Meta boasts that Llama 3 outshines competitors in key benchmarks, particularly excelling in tasks like coding. Two versions are being offered: an 8 billion parameter version and a much larger 70 billion parameter version. The larger version is intended for internal use within the assistant, while both are available for external developers to tinker with and build upon. Additionally, a multimodal version of Llama 3 is planned for release in the coming months, which will likely incorporate different data types like images and audio for even richer AI experiences.
Meta AI stands out with several unique features. It’s the only known chatbot to integrate real-time search results from both Google and Bing, giving users a wider net for information retrieval. The assistant can also generate creative text formats and even produce high-resolution images and animations on the fly. To help users get the most out of the assistant, Meta AI offers prompt suggestions, guiding users towards tasks the assistant can perform.
Following its initial US launch, Meta AI is now expanding its reach to include English-speaking countries in Australia, Canada, and several African and South Asian nations. This wider rollout strategy mirrors Meta’s past successes with features like Stories and Reels, aiming to leverage its massive user base of over 3 billion people.
With the launch of Llama 3 and the integration of the Meta AI assistant across its platforms, Meta has made a significant leap forward in the AI race. Whether they can rival established players like Google and Microsoft remains to be seen, but Meta has certainly positioned itself as a force to be reckoned with in the ever-evolving world of artificial intelligence.