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Meta is moving forward with plans to further develop its artificial intelligence offering for businesses, because the social media platform internally launches a brand new AI tool aimed toward boosting productivity.
The AI software, called Metamate after the inner name of the group's employees, is predicated on the tech giant's major language model, Llama, and is used for coding, conducting research and writing internal and external communications.
Prashant Ratanchandani, VP of Engineering at Meta, who’s leading the event of Metamate, said there are not any plans to release the software for external use, however the project offers useful insights into AI applications for businesses. He told the FT that Meta desired to create “the world’s best business assistant”.
The move comes as tech giants including OpenAI and Google race to bring AI-powered assistants to consumers and businesses to spice up revenue from the rapidly evolving technology.
According to market research firm MarketsandMarkets, the marketplace for so-called AI agents that may solve and solve complex tasks for humans is predicted to grow from $5.1 billion to $47 billion by 2030.
Meta explores ways to earn money with AI through enterprise products. Last month, Clara Shih, former managing director of AI at Salesforce, was hired to guide a brand new “Business AI” group. Shih said her vision is to “make cutting-edge AI accessible to each business” in her recent role.
Analysts hailed the move as a chance for the corporate to monetize Llama, for instance by developing standard applications using the open source models.
Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg has made it clear that he desires to be a dominant AI player by quickly integrating AI features into Instagram, WhatsApp and Facebook and offering AI agents for users, developers and corporations that use the platforms.
However, Metamate shouldn’t be yet as advanced as comparable products from competitors Microsoft and Google, that are used internally by their employees and likewise sold to firms.
Unlike most consumer-focused chatbots, Metamate is primarily a text-based interface and doesn’t currently support videos or images.
It also lacks the more autonomous, agent-like features of its competitors, equivalent to: For example, attending and summarizing meetings, scheduling items in calendars, or taking actions on behalf of the user.
Meta employees, including executives, said they recurrently used the tool for a wide range of tasks, including coding, looking for internal information from the corporate's intranet, and preparing for customer calls and follow-ups. The company has also used other models internally, including OpenAI's ChatGPT.
Ratanchandani said Meta is considering ways to enhance the product, including making it more of an AI assistant. He said it was too early to measure the impact on productivity.
Acceptance of the technology is restricted across the market. A recent report from Goldman Sachs suggests that widespread adoption or increased productivity of AI tools is unlikely until 2027 on the earliest.
“It's a typical policy to develop something internally and use it as 'pet food' (employees for testing),” said Oren Etzioni, a pc science professor on the University of Washington.
However, he added: “(Just because) it really works great inside Meta doesn't mean it's easy for Meta – a really focused advertising-based social network – to grow to be an enterprise provider.” They wouldn't be at the highest of my list on the subject of who will emerge because the winner on this area.”
