Meta Platforms Inc., the parent of Facebook and Instagram, is investing heavily in artificial intelligence (AI) and this will benefit its metaverse businesses, which fell short of expectations last year, Meta’s Chief Technology Officer Andrew Bosworth told Nikkei Asia.
See related article: Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg is still optimistic about the metaverse
Fast facts
- In February, Meta created a new team for generative AI — the algorithmic technology that can produce contents such as text, imagery and audio, and Bosworth told Nikkei that Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg, Chief Product Officer Chris Cox and himself are giving most of their focus and time to this field.
- Bosworth said generative AI will help develop the company’s metaverse plans, saying it will allow users to create their personalized virtual worlds based on text input to the AI, without having to learn computer graphics or programming.
- Meta is expected to begin commercialization of generative AI technology within this year, according to the report.
- The company formerly known as Facebook rebranded as Meta in October 2021 in a sign it was pivoting to metaverse-related businesses. Despite spending billions of dollars investing in its virtual platform, Horizo`n Worlds, its metaverse division Reality Labs posted a loss of US$13.7 billion last year.
- Meta’s Zuckerberg also announced that 2023 would be a “year of efficiency” for the company, winding down its non-fungible token (NFT) operations on both Facebook and Instagram.
- According to Google Trends, netizens have been gradually losing interest in metaverse as a search term over the last year, with its popularity decreasing 76% compared to its yearly peak in March 2022.
- AI as a search term, on the other hand, saw a 177% surge of interest in the past year as OpenAI’s chatbot gained global recognition and popularity since its debut in November.
See related article: Meta’s metaverse division Reality Labs posts wider loss of $13.7 billion in 2022