Meta AI reaches 400 million monthly users, with business agents on the horizon

Meta AI now counts 400 million monthly active users and is available in 22 countries, with more on the way. The assistant, Meta's answer to ChatGPT, can answer questions, offer advice, and generate images. It is free, built into Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp, works with Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, and is accessible on the web. It still trails rival tools in some areas, such as file uploads, but Meta's existing audience of more than four billion people gives the assistant unmatched distribution.

Meta's chief executive has said every business will eventually have an AI agent its customers can talk to, just as businesses today have an email address, a website, and a social media presence. He predicts hundreds of millions, possibly billions, of small-business agents, and eventually more AI agents than people. Observers expect Meta to charge fees for business versions of the tools, and marketers are already weighing how AI-powered agents could handle pre-sale, sales, and post-sale interactions while keeping a human option available.