Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg says earning money from generative AI will take years
Ever since ChatGPT was unveiled for the general public, interest in the generative AI space skyrocketed. Companies like Google and Microsoft were among the first ones to unveil their own generative AI chatbots and soon, people across the world were using their products. Meta, which hopped on the AI scene a little later, expects to make money from the emerging technology but that might not happen anytime soon.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently addressed investors during the company’s first-quarter earnings report, shedding light on the role of generative AI in Meta’s long-term strategy. While acknowledging the transformative potential of AI across its platforms, Zuckerberg talked about expectations regarding immediate profitability, saying that it will take years to earn money from AI.
A report in The Verge says that despite Meta’s robust financial performance, with net income exceeding $12 billion on $36.5 billion in revenue in the last quarter, Zuckerberg predicted a deceleration in revenue growth amidst increased expenditure on AI and metaverse development. Drawing parallels to past successes such as Stories and Reels, Zuckerberg highlighted the complexity of building leading AI capabilities, cautioning investors that this endeavour may take several years to turn profitable.
“And the initial signs are quite positive here, too. But building the leading AI will also be a larger undertaking than the other experiences we’ve added to our apps, and this is likely going to take several years,” he said as per The Verge.
Talking about Meta’s AI efforts, the company launched its own AI chatbot, Meta AI, during the Meta Connect 2023 event. In a blog post, the tech giant noted, “Today at Connect, we introduced you to new AI experiences and features that can enhance your connections with others – and give you the tools to be more creative, expressive, and productive.” Similar to other AI chatbots in the market, Meta AI is a general-purpose AI assistant that can help users with a variety of tasks, such as answering questions, generating text, and translating languages. At the time of its launch, it was announced that Meta had partnered with Microsoft Bing so that users could access real-time information and generate images.
In November last year, several US users got access to the AI chatbot but Indian users were left behind. Earlier this month, several Indian users on X reported that they could use the Meta AI chatbot on WhatsApp. As of now, Meta AI is in a trial phase and is gradually rolling out for more users. The chatbot is available only in English as Meta plans on gathering feedback and improving the tool to rollout the AI to a wider audience.
