Meta says its business AI now facilitates 10 million conversations a week

Meta may not be at the forefront of AI discussions, but its advancements in business AI are gaining significant traction. As of late March, the company's AI tools are now enabling approximately 10 million conversations every week, a remarkable increase from just 1 million at the start of the year. This growth follows the expansion of Meta's business AI assistant beta program across the U.S., EMEA, APAC, and LATAM. Currently, Meta is offering these AI tools for free to small businesses to enhance user engagement and scale. However, CEO Mark Zuckerberg indicated that a monetization strategy could be on the horizon. "While our business AIs are free for most users on our messaging platforms, we plan to explore a sustainable monetization model as we progress," he stated during the company's first-quarter earnings call. Meta is also integrating AI capabilities into its diverse suite of business products, powered by its new large language model, Muse Spark, which is the first to be launched from the Meta Superintelligence Labs established last year. The company reports strong engagement with its creative AI tools, with over 8 million advertisers utilizing at least one of its Generative AI ad creative features. These tools are proving effective, with advertisers leveraging the video generation feature experiencing conversion rates exceeding 3% in preliminary tests, according to CFO Susan Li. In addition, Meta is rolling out the open beta of Meta Ads AI Connectors, allowing advertisers to link their Meta ad accounts with an AI agent for enhanced performance. During this quarter, Meta generated $885 million in revenue from its applications, driven largely by the demand for paid messaging on WhatsApp and app subscriptions. Earlier this month, the company initiated trials for a WhatsApp Plus subscription, offering users personalized icons, themes, and notification sounds. The financial results are impressive, with a profit of $26.8 billion for the quarter, a significant rise from $16.6 billion the previous year. Overall revenue reached $56.3 billion, reflecting a 33% increase compared to last year.