MENLO PARK: Meta launched AI chatbots voiced by Hollywood celebrities like John Cena and Judi Dench on Wednesday, betting that its billions of users are eager to embrace artificial intelligence.

“I think that voice has the potential to be one of, if not the most frequent ways, that we all interact with AI,” said Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg at the company’s annual product presentation event. “It is just a lot better,” he said.

The deployment comes months after OpenAI previewed its own ChatGPT voice feature, which drew controversy for its similarity to actress Scarlett Johansson’s voice.

Meta has obtained permission from the stars featured in its new voice tool, which will be available on Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp. However, Meta AI won’t be accessible in Europe due to concerns about compliance with EU data protection laws and potential fines.

Meta’s AI relies on content and data from its platforms’ legions of users, a practice that involves numerous obligations and safeguards in Europe.

400 million users

Like ChatGPT or Google’s Gemini, Meta AI is an AI assistant that answers questions, creates images, writes messages and even provides companionship.

This new version builds on the initial release unveiled a year ago. Meta reports that over 400 million people already consult Meta AI at least once a month, and the company aims to make it “the most widely used AI assistant by the end of the year.” Critics, however, point out that many users stumble into MetaAI inadvertently, as it has replaced the search function on apps such as WhatsApp.

Since ChatGPT’s breakthrough, the major tech companies have been rapidly developing AI applications capable of producing high-quality content from simple queries.

Competition is fierce, with Google and Microsoft having a head start in productivity features, and Apple entering the market with AI-capable iPhones. However, these models require substantial technical infrastructure, energy, and skilled engineers, significantly impacting company resources.

Meta believes its enhanced assistant sounds more natural, can interact verbally, and analyze images. Like other chatbots, it can suggest recipes from food photos or edit images based on simple user requests.

Despite concerns about heavy spending on AI and virtual reality, Meta’s profits have soared, with its share price up 60 percent since the beginning of the year. The company’s success rides on strong advertising results.

But the social media giant’s heavy spending on AI and virtual reality technology has always been a concern for investors and observers. “When I think about AI, Meta is not necessarily the first brand that comes to mind,” Creative Strategies analyst Carolina Milanesi said.

“And their biggest hurdle is going to be privacy and trust: a lot of consumers will have issues with trusting that the data is not being used for other reasons.”

Published in Dawn, September 26th, 2024