Meta plans standalone AI app, subscription service to rival ChatGPT
What's the story
Meta is gearing up to launch a standalone artificial intelligence (AI) app in the second quarter of this year. The move comes as CEO Mark Zuckerberg aims to make Meta a leader in the AI space by year-end. The company also plans to launch a paid subscription service for Meta AI, following OpenAI's footsteps of charging monthly fees for better access to ChatGPT.
Chatbot development
Meta AI's evolution and integration into existing apps
Launched in September 2023, Meta AI was touted as a generative AI digital assistant that could create responses and images based on user prompts in existing apps. It replaced the search feature for Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger in April last year. Currently, the chatbot is only accessible through a website and the company's apps. During the company's fourth-quarter earnings call in January, Zuckerberg set his goal for Meta AI to reach over one billion people this year.
User interaction
Standalone app could enhance user engagement
In a public exchange with a Threads user who suggested that Meta should develop a standalone mobile app for its digital assistant, Zuckerberg agreed. The user suggested a separate Meta AI app could help unify the digital assistant across smartphones and different hardware platforms such as the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses. This could also let users manage their conversational histories with the digital assistant and allow "deeper personalization and customization."
Revenue plan
Meta's monetization strategy for AI app
Meta is eyeing a paid subscription model for Meta AI, just like OpenAI and Microsoft charge users monthly fees for access to more powerful versions of their respective ChatGPT and Copilot chatbots. Meta's finance chief Susan Li said in January that while the company's efforts are focused on "building a great consumer experience," there are "pretty clear monetization opportunities here over time, including paid recommendations and including a premium offering."
User statistics
Meta AI's user base and market performance
As of January, Meta AI boasted around 700 million active monthly users, up from 600 million in December. However, analysts have struggled to compare Meta AI's usage directly with ChatGPT and other competitors as it isn't available as a standalone app. Business of Apps's data editor David Curry stated in December that the standalone website for Meta AI gets less than 10 million views/month, "far below the major services (ChatGPT, Gemini, etc) and even lower than some mid-range players like Anthropic."
Market dominance
India emerges as largest market for Meta AI
India has become the "largest market for Meta AI usage," Li said. This comes as WhatsApp sees more retention and engagement. Back in January, Li had said that WhatsApp sees the most Meta AI usage, followed by Facebook, which is driving "strong engagement from our feed deep-dives integration that lets people ask Meta AI questions about the content that is recommended to them."