Meta, like the entire tech world, has seen tremendous value in artificial intelligence (AI). The company has invested heavily in its Llama AI model and has now released Llama 3, which is even more powerful than the previous versions. In fact, Meta calls it "the most intelligent AI assistant you can use for free."
To accompany the release of Llama 3, Meta is integrating it much further than it had previously. The company announced in a blog post that it is integrating the new AI model Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp through the Meta AI assistant. It will even start showing up directly in the main Facebook feed, so you won't be able to avoid Meta's ChatGPT competitor. If you want to try it without using one of the company's social media apps, you can go to Meta.ai.
The company said in a blog post that "you can use Meta AI on Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger to get things done, learn, create and connect with the things that matter to you."
Meta is also rolling the AI assistant out in many additional countries. Now, people in Australia, Canada, Ghana, Jamaica, Malawi, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, Singapore, South Africa, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe will be able to interact with it English. The company says it's "just getting started" so we expect to see more locations added in the future.
What's new with Meta's Llama 3?
As far as what's new with Meta's new AI model, it seems to be iterative, building on the features used in Llama 2 and making them smarter.
Meta claims that its AI model is faster at creating images than it was previously. Now, it can produce images as you type. You can even tell it to animate a created image to get cool GIFs. I tried it out, and it was shockingly fast. I had to ask for a couple of edits to get the image I wanted, but it did end up creating some impressive art. In fact, Meta says images generated are also now sharper and higher quality, and I'd have to say the company is right about that based on what I saw.
Outside of image generation, Meta AI can be used to plan a night out, look up information on a topic, help decorate your home, solve math problems, get real-time search information around the web, and all of the other features you'd expect from a well-trained AI model.
The integration into Facebook proper also sounds intriguing. Meta cites an example of seeing a post with the Northern Lights. "So if you see a photo of the northern lights in Iceland, you can ask Meta AI what time of year is best to check out the aurora borealis," reads the company's blog post.
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