Meta AI could take on ChatGPT and Gemini with standalone app launching within months

While Meta has been working hard on its own artificial intelligence, at the moment it’s more of a companion to the company’s apps (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger) and hardware (Ray-Ban smartglasses) than a direct rival to the likes of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini and Microsoft’s Copilot.

But that could be set to change this year. According to a report from CNBC, Meta is planning to create a standalone AI app at some point in the second quarter. Assuming no delays, that means any point between April and June.

The aim, according to the site’s sources who asked not to be named for confidentiality reasons, is to see Meta leapfrog Google and Open AI as the leading AI company by the end of the year.

This shouldn’t come as a total surprise. Not only has Mark Zuckerberg endorsed posts on Threads suggesting that Meta should make its own app, but he told investors in January that AI would be a big focus this year.

“In AI, I expect that this is going to be the year when a highly intelligent and personalized AI assistant reaches more than 1 billion people, and I expect Meta AI to be that leading AI assistant,” he said at the time. He added that the company’s “really exciting road map” for the year would have a “unique vision focused on personalization” because “people don't all want to use the same AI.”

While Meta has billions of users across its many apps, one possible stumbling block to the company’s plans to rule the AI roost is pricing. CNBC’s sources claim that Meta plans to charge a monthly fee to offer more advanced features.

True, both ChatGPT and Gemini do the same, but Meta users are more used to getting things for free. Facebook, Instagram and Messenger have always been free, and Meta actually removed WhatsApp’s 99c a year fee two years after buying it.

The company also doesn’t have the best reputation when it comes to privacy, which could cause trust problems if the company expects users to candidly talk to its AI.

Sam Altman, CEO of ChatGPT creator Open AI doesn’t seem to feel too threatened. “Ok fine maybe we'll do a social app,” he jokingly responded on X. “lol if facebook tries to come at us and we just uno reverse them it would be so funny,” he added.

Bravado or overconfidence? Possibly both. Despite its possible disadvantages in pricing and privacy, Meta has a huge amount of money to spend, so Zuckerberg’s vision shouldn’t be dismissed out of hand. The speed at which AI technology is moving means that the AI chatbot landscape could look very different at the end of 2025.