Meta has made a significant leap in the realm of AI assistants with the release of its latest offering, powered by the Llama 3 model. Initially introduced last September, the Meta AI assistant is now being seamlessly integrated into various platforms, including Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, and Messenger, with plans to appear in the main Facebook feed. Users can also interact with it through messaging inboxes and now, for the first time, via a standalone website at Meta.ai.
The key to the success of any AI assistant lies in the quality of its underlying model. Meta is confident that Llama 3 exceeds expectations, outperforming competing models in its class on key benchmarks, particularly in tasks like coding. The release includes two smaller Llama 3 models, available to both the Meta AI assistant and external developers, with a larger multimodal version slated for the near future.
Mark Zuckerberg, Meta’s CEO, envisions the Meta AI assistant as “the most intelligent AI assistant that people can freely use across the world,” with Llama 3 being a significant step towards achieving that goal. The assistant now integrates real-time search results from Bing and Google, incorporates image generation for animations and high-resolution images, and offers a panel of prompt suggestions to showcase its capabilities.
While initially available only in the US, Meta AI is now expanding its reach to several English-speaking countries. Zuckerberg sees this wider release as a significant step towards eventually reaching Meta’s vast user base of over 3 billion daily users worldwide.
Llama 3’s release demonstrates Meta’s dedication to quickly expanding AI capabilities. Zuckerberg sees the creation of Llama 3 as a continuation of Meta’s ongoing evolution towards its goal of being the top AI in the world, even in the face of possible competition from other AI models. Meta is determined to be at the forefront of AI technology, as evidenced by its strong investment in core models like Llama 3, even while AI models continue to evolve at a rapid pace.
