Meta starts rolling out generative AI tools for all advertisers

Social media giant Meta Platforms said on Wednesday that it has started rolling out generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools that can create content like image backgrounds and variations of written text for all advertisers. The company started testing these tools in May, giving access to a select group of advertisers in a “testing playground”. The tools will be available in Meta’s Ads Manager and their rollout will be completed next year. The rollout marks the Facebook and Instagram owner’s first foray into bundling generative AI technology into its products for mining vast stores of past data to generate new content like prose, art and software code.

Last week, the company said businesses will soon be able to use AI for business messaging on Messenger and WhatsApp to engage with customers. At the Meta Connect, Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg said the company is implementing generative AI into all of its products. As a result, customers will be able to create stickers using their imagination and send them to friends on WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, and Facebook. Instagram, especially, is getting a Gen AI-powered photo editing tool that will let customers change their photos’ paint style. Meta is also introducing a Gen AI-powered chatbot called Meta AI to help users get answers to random and useful questions without having to leave the platform. Meta AI can give real-time information and generate photorealistic images from text prompts in seconds to share with friends.

“AI is enabling new forms of connection and expression, thanks to the power of generative technologies,” said Meta. Meta’s portfolio of AI products includes its language model “Llama 2” and an AI chatbot called Meta AI that can generate text responses and photo-realistic images. According to the company, it is doubling down on its investment in the development of the foundational model to make AI more helpful in the near future.

— Written with inputs from Reuters