Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has announced that Meta AI, the company’s AI-powered chatbot, has reached a significant milestone of one billion active users across its suite of apps.
This figure marks a dramatic rise from doubling from 500 million monthly active users reported in September 2024. The announcement was made during Meta’s annual general meeting on Wednesday, where Zuckerberg described the achievement as a key step in the company’s long-term vision for AI.
He emphasized that the next phase would focus on deepening user experience through enhanced personalization, voice conversations, and entertainment, to make Meta AI the top personal AI platform globally.
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Meta’s AI surge comes amid fierce competition in the AI landscape. In comparison with several top platforms, OpenAI’s ChatGPT currently has 400 million weekly active users and about 10 million paying subscribers, while Google’s Gemini boasts over 400 million monthly active users as of May 2025.
Originally launched as a voice assistant on the second-generation Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses in September 2023, Meta AI has evolved rapidly. In April 2024, the assistant was upgraded to support multimodal input through computer vision. By July, Meta AI with Vision was integrated into Horizon OS (v68) for Quest 3 and Quest Pro, enabling real-time object detection in passthrough mode — replacing the older voice assistant software. Quest 2 users continue to access a version of Meta AI without Vision support.
Since its launch, Meta AI has positioned itself as a major contender in the competitive AI market alongside ChatGPT, Grok, and Gemini. Zuckerberg noted that Meta is prioritizing the development of the assistant before transitioning to monetization. Potential revenue streams include offering premium features via subscription or integrating paid recommendations.
“It may seem kind of funny that a billion monthly activities don’t seem like it’s at scale for us, but that’s where we’re at,” Zuckerberg told shareholders, highlighting the company’s broader ambitions.
Unlike its rivals, Meta AI remains free across Meta’s ecosystem — including WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram. However, with the recent launch of a standalone Meta AI assistant, Meta is eyeing a larger share of the generative AI market currently led by Google and OpenAI.
Meta AI is powered by Llama 4, the company’s most advanced large language model to date, offering enhanced reasoning, multilingual support, and improved efficiency. The assistant is also designed to remember user-specific details, such as travel preferences or language learning goals. Through Meta’s Accounts Centre, it can pull context from linked Facebook and Instagram accounts to personalize interactions further.
Meta AI’s research encompasses several areas, including:
Natural Language Processing (NLP)
Meta AI develops advanced language models that enable machines to understand, generate, and interact using natural language. Their work includes projects like BlenderBot, a state-of-the-art chatbot, and advancements in multilingual models.
Computer Vision
Meta AI is at the forefront of developing systems that understand and interpret visual data, which is crucial for applications in augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR). Research in this domain includes projects like image recognition, object detection, and understanding 3D environments.
Reinforcement Learning
Meta AI focuses on reinforcement learning techniques that enable machines to learn from interactions and improve their performance over time. This is particularly relevant for developing intelligent systems that can autonomously adapt and make decisions in complex environments.
Robotics
Meta AI explores using AI in robotics to create systems that can understand and navigate physical spaces. This research aims to improve robot manipulation, perception, and control in real-world scenarios.
Responsible AI and Ethics
Meta AI is committed to ethical AI development, focusing on fairness, transparency, and accountability. The division actively researches to mitigate biases in AI models, ensure privacy, and create inclusive technologies.
Looking Ahead
Meta AI is at the forefront of artificial intelligence research and development, contributing significantly to the field with its open science approach, innovative projects, and commitment to ethical AI.
As Meta continues to expand the assistant’s reach and capabilities, its integration with AI-powered glasses and existing mobile apps signals a major push to make Meta AI a central part of users’ digital lives.