Category Archives: Meta

WhatsApp Introduces Ads In Its App



When Facebook bought WhatsApp for $19 billion in 2024, the messaging app had a clear focus. No ads, no games, and no gimmicks, The New York Times reported.

For years, that is what WhatsApp’s two billion users — many of them in Brazil, India, and other countries around the world — got. They chatted with friends and family unencumbered by advertising and other features found on social media. 

On Monday, WhatsApp said it would start showing ads inside its app for the first time. The promotions will appear only in an era of the app called Updates, which is used by around 1.5 billion people a day. WhatsApp will collect some data on users to target the ads, such as location and the devices default language, but it will not touch the contents of messages or whom users speak with. The company added that it has no plans to place ads in chats and personal messages.

“Thinking through the lens of privacy was incredibly important for how we though about bringing in these features to market,” said Nikila Srinivasan, a vice president of product management at WhatsApp. “Your personal message, calls and statuses, they will remain end-to-end encrypted.

CNBC reported: It WhatsApp, marking a major change for an app whose founders shunned advertising.

Meta announced Monday that businesses will now be ablate run so-called status ads on WhatsApp that prompt users to interact with the advertisers via the app’s messaging features. The ads will only be shown to users within WhatsApp’s “Updates” tab to separate the promotions from people’s personal conversations. Additionally, Meta will begin monitoring WhatsApp’s Channels feature through search ads and subscriptions.

The debut of ads on the messaging app represents a significant step in Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s plants make WhatsApp “the next chapter” in his company’s history, as he told CNBC’s Jim Cramer in 2022. The move to monetize WhatsApp also comes amid Meta’s high-profile antitrust case with the Federal Trade Commission over the company’s blockbuster acquisitions of the messaging app and Instagram.

BBC reported: WhatsApp is launching three new ad features in a global roll-out across the messaging app.

The Meta-owned platform says that new ads will not be shown in the same place as people’s private chats, nor will the contents of their messages – which are encrypted – be used to decide which ads to display.

WhatsApp will instead use the country, city and language of the user, as well as how they interact with other ads and which channels they follow, to drive suggested content.

But people who have chosen to link their WhatsApp account to Facebook or Instagram will see more personalized ads.


Meta Announces A $14.39 Investment In Scale AI and Hires CEO Alexandr Wang To Oversee Its Efforts



Scale AI founder Alexandr Wang told employees in a memo on Thursday that he’s leaving for Meta, confirming reports from earlier in the week about his departure and a large investment from the social networking company, CNBC reported.

Meta is pumping $.14 billion into Scale AI as part of the deal, and will have a 49% stake in the artificial intelligence startup, but will not have any voting power, a Scale AI spokesperson said.

“As you’ve probably gathered from recent news, opportunities of this magnitude often come at a cost,” Wang wrote in the memo that he shared on X. “In this instance, that cost is my departure. It has been the absolute greatest pleasure of my life to serve as your CEO.”

Scale AI is promoting Jason Droege, the chief strategy officer, to the CEO role. Droege was previously a venture partner at Benchmark and an Uber vice president.

The Verge reported: Meta is paying $14.3 billion to acquire 49 percent of Scale AI and hire its CEO Alexandr Wang to revamp its troubled AI efforts.

As part of the deal, Wang will report directly to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and remain on Scale’s board of directors, both companies announced on Thursday. Sources say Wang will lead a new AI lab at Meta tasked with building “superintelligence.” Meta spokesperson Ashley Zandy says the company “will share more about this effort and the great people joining this team in the coming weeks.”

Zuckerberg has been actively recruiting a new team of researchers from rival forms to join Wang’s team, according to people familiar with the matter and other press reports. The Meta founder has reached out to potential recruits directly — usually via a cold email or WhatsApp message — and lured some of them away from companies like Google with seven-and eight-figure compensation packages.

This year, Scale signed a deal with the Department of Defense for a first-of-its-kind AI agent program for US military planning. Since then, it has expanded its business with other governments, recently inking a five-year deal to provide AI tools to Qatar. The company’s work with governments in Asia and Europe could result in a sizable portion of its overall sales.

TechCrunch reported: Data-labeling company Scale AI confirmed on Friday that it has received a “significant” investment from Meta that values the startup at $29 billion. The startup also said its co-founder and CEO Alexandr Wang is stepping down from his role to join Meta and help the bigger company with its AI work.

Reports indicate that Meta invested about $14.3 billion for a 49% stake in the startup, which produces and labels data that’s used to train the large language models that underpin a significant portion of generative AI development.

Meta confirmed the investment. “Meta has finalized our strategic partnership and investment in Scale AI. As part of this, we will deepen the work we do together producing data for AI models and Alexander Wang will join Meta to work on our super intelligence efforts. We will share more about this effort and the great people joining this team in the coming weeks,” a spokesperson for Meta told TechCrunch.

 


Meta Plans Major Investment In AI-Humanoid Robots



Meta is forming a new team within its Reality Labs hardware division to build robots that can assist with physical tasks, Bloomberg reported. The team will be responsible for developing humanoid robotics hardware, potentially including hardware that can perform household chores, TechCrunch reported.

Meta’s new robotics group, which will be led by Marc Whitten, driverless car start up Cruise’s former CEO, will also create robotic software and AI, according to Bloomberg’s reporting. Whitten has also had stints at Amazon, Microsoft, and Sonos, according to his LinkedIn profile.

To be clear, Meta’s plan isn’t to build a Meta-branded robot — at least not initially. Rather, Meta executive including CTO Andrew Bosworth believe the company has an opportunity to build a hardware foundation for the rest of the robotics market, per Bloomberg — similar to what Google accomplished with its Android operating system in the smartphone sector.

Gizmodo reported: Facebook’s parent company Meta Platforms has moved beyond trying to connect with humans and is ready to focus on building robotic ones, according to a report from Bloomberg, Meta is planning to pour money into a new project to build AI-powered humanoid robots.

Meta reportedly plans to start the project by building a robot capable of completing household chores. But long term, it seems the company is more interested in being in the software business rather than dealing with hardware, with a focus on developing the AI that will power these machines. 

Basically Meta wants to make the brain and leave the bodies up to robotics companies. It doesn’t currently have ambitions to build its own Meta-branded bot, and has already started holding conversations with firms like Unitree Robotics and Figure AI.

The effort will be headed up March Whitten, who was serving as CEO of self-driving cars company Cruise before resigning earlier this month when parent company General Motors decided to get out of the robotaxi business.

The Verge reported: Meta is planning to design the hardware and software for humanoid robots, according to a report from Bloomberg. Sources tell the outlet that a newly formed team within Meta’s Reality Labs division will start by working on “humanoid robot hardware” capable of completing household chores.

Bloomberg notes that Meta has broader goals of making “the underlying AI, sensors and software for robots that will be manufactured and sold by a range of companies. “That means the company might not make a Meta-branded robot to start. It’s in discussions with robotics companies like Unitree Robotics and Figure AI about its plans.

“The core technologies we’ve already invested in and built across Reality Labs and AI are complementary to developing the advancements needed for robotics,” Andrew Bosworth, Meta’s chief technology officer, write in a memo seen by Bloomberg. “We believe that expanding our portfolio to invest in this field will only accrue value to Meta AI and our mixed and augmented reality programs.”

In my opinion, it is too early for Meta to actually develop robots that can do your dishes or fold laundry.


Meta Platforms Soar To Record Bolstering Zuckerberg’s Spending Spree



Meta Platforms posted record revenue in the fourth quarter, aided by artificial-intelligence improvements to its ads business, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The Facebook and Instagram parent reported a 21% increase in sales and $20.8 billion in net income, both ahead of analyst expectations.

Meta estimated that revenue growth would slow in the January-to-March quarter, reaching 8% to 15%, a level that would represent the lowest increase in two years. 

The company’s shares rose slightly in after-hours trading Wednesday, following a rally over the past week after it announced plans to increase spending on AI. Its capital-expenditure estimate for 2025 was roughly 70% over 2024 projections.

Meta operates a suite of AI products, including an open-source model called Llama that developers can use to create their own applications, and AI chatbots embedded in its apps. The company is also planning to create an AI engineer that will start contributing increasing amounts of code to its research and development projects. Meta Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg wants Meta AI to be the leading assistant in the world in 2025.

CNBC reported: Meta shares were up slightly in after-hours trading on Wednesday after the company reported fourth-quarter earnings that beat the top and the bottom.

Mark Zuckerberg said he expects 2025 to redefine the company’s relationships with governments.

“We now have a U.S. administration that is proud of our leading companies, prioritizes American technology winning and that will defend our values and interests abroad,” Zuckerberg told investor on a call. “I am optimistic about the progress and innovation that this can unlock.”

The company’s Meta AI chatbot surpassed 700 million monthly active users, finance chief Susan Li told analysts. That’s up from 600 million in December. Zuckerberg said he expects an AI chatbot will reach more than 1 billion users in 2025, and Meta AI is already used more than any other assistant, he said. 

Variety reported: Meta turned in a big beat for the fourth quarter of 2024, with the parent of Facebook and Instagram reporting record quarterly revenue and net profit to close out the year.

The strong results come as the company is looking ahead to a massive increase in AI-fueled capital spending in 2025 — and as Meta CEO and chairman Mark Zuckerberg has been working to win the favor of President Trump, an erstwhile antagonist of the tech giant.

Meta did not provide revenue guidance for full year 2025, saying that “we expect the investments we are making in our core business this year will give us an opportunity to continue delivering strong revenue throughout 2025.”

In my opinion, it seems like Mark Zuckerberg has big ideas for what Meta will be like in 2025.


Meta To Spend Up To $65 Billion This Year To Power Goals, Zuckerberg Says



Meta Platforms plans to spend as much as $65 billion this year to expand its AI infrastructure, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on Friday, aiming to bolster the company’s position against rivals OpenAI and Google in the race to dominate the technology., Reuters reported.

As part of the investment, Meta will ramp up hiring for artificial intelligence roles and build a more than 2-gigawatt data center that would be large enough to cover a significant part of Manhattan.

The company — among the top buyers of Nvidia’s sought-after AI chips — aims to end the year with over 1.3 million graphics professors and plans to bring about 1 GW of computing power online in 2025.

“This will be a defining year for AI,” Zuckerberg said in a Facebook post. “This is a massive effort, and over the coming years it will drive our four products and business.”

Meta’s announcement comes just days after U.S. President Trump announced that OpenAI, SoftBank, and Oracle will form a venture called Stargate and invest $500 billion in AI infrastructure across the U.S.

TechCrunch reported: Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that the company plans to significantly up it’s capital expenditures this year as it aims to keep pace with rivals in the cutthroat AI space.

In a Facebook post on Friday, Zuckerberg said that Meta expects to spend $60 billion – $80 billion on CapEx in 2025, primarily on data centers and growing the company’s AI development teams. That projected range is around double the $35 billion – $40 billion Meta spent on CapEx last year.

Zuckerberg also wrote that Meta plans to bring around one gigawatt of compute online this year, roughly the amount of power consumed by 750,000 average homes, and expects the company’s data centers to pack over 1.3 million GPUs by year-end.

NBC News reported: Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced Friday that the company plans to build a massive data center in Louisiana to power its newest AI model, Llama 4, which is set to launch this year.

In a Facebook post, Zuckerberg said the company would invest more than $60 billion into AI including the data center, which he noted would be “so large it would cover a significant part of Manhattan.”

“This will be the defining year for AI. In 2025, I expect Meta AI will be the leading assistant serving more than 1 billion people, Llama 4 will become the leading state of the art model, and we’ll build an AI engineer that will start contributing increasing amounts of code to our R&D efforts,” Zuckerberg wrote.

In my opinion, I have concerns about how much water Meta is going to take away from people who aren’t billionaires.


Zuckerberg Makes Amends With Trump



Mark Zuckerberg’s announcement this week that Meta would pivot its moderation policies to allow for more “free expression” was widely viewed as the company’s latest effort to appease President-elect Donald Trump, CNBC News reported.

More than any of its Silicon Valley peers, Meta has taken numerous public steps to make amends with Trump since his election victory in November.

That follows a highly contentious four years between the two during Trump’s first term in office, which ended with Facebook — similar to other social media companies — banning Trump from it’s platform.

With Meta now positioning itself to be a key player in artificial intelligence, Zuckerberg recognizes the need for White House support as his company builds data center and pursues policies that will allow it to fulfill its lofty ambitions, according to people familiar with the company’s plans who asked not to be named because they weren’t authorized to speak on the matter.

Meta declined to comment for this article.

New York Post reported: Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg parked his private jet right next to Trump Force One on Friday during a visit to Palm Beach, Florida, to meet with the incoming 47th president.

Zuckerberg, 40, was dressed up in a fitted suit and tie when he was spotted boarding his Gulfstream G650 jet at Palm Beach International Airport.

The tech titan’s jet was parked in the shadows of President-elect Donald Trump’s much larger, custom Boeing 757 aircraft, which he’ll trade in for Air Force One in less than two weeks.

Earlier in the day, the billionaire Facebook founder met with Trump at his nearby Mar-a-Lago estate, a source told the Post.

It’s at least the second time Zuckerberg has convened with Trump, 78, at Mar-a-Lago since the president-elect’s landslide victory in the 2024 presidential election.

Zuckerberg, who also held at least two private phone conversations with Trump over the summer, has sought to rehabilitate his relationship with the incoming president after his social media platforms banned him in the wake of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.

Benzinga reported: Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has much bigger fences to mend with President-elect Donald Trump than the Silicon Valley tech giants and other billionaires who have been making the trek to Mar-a-Lago since the November elections. 

Friday’s visit, reported by The New York Post, was Zuckerberg’s second meeting with Trump since the 2024 election.

The Facebook founder’s relationship with Trump profoundly soured after Meta Platforms banned outgoing President Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts after the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot. Meta lifted the remaining restrictions on Trump’s accounts in July.


Meta To Add Display To Ray-Bans As Race Over Smart Glasses Intensifies



Meta plans to add displays to its Ray-Ban smart glasses as soon as next year, as the US tech giant accelerates its plans to build lightweight headsets that can usurp the smartphone as consumers’ main computing device, Financial Times reported.

The $1.5tn social media group is planning to add a screen inside the $300 sunglasses it makes and sells in partnership with eyesore group EssilorLuxottica, according to people familiar with the plans.

The updated Ray-Bans could be released as early as the second half of 2025, the people said. The small display would be likely used to show notifications or responses from Meta’s virtual assistant.

The move comes as Meta pushes further into wearable devices and what chief executive Mark Zuckerberg hopes will be the next computing platform, as rivals such as Apple, Google, and Snap also race to develop their own similar products.

In September, Meta unveiled its augmented-reality glasses prototype Orion. According to people familiar with the matter, the company has accelerated Orion’s development following the enthusiastic response of early testers.

These people said Meta has brought forward plans to turn the device into a consumer product, though any release is still likely to be years away.

Engadget reported: It looks like Meta is preparing to add displays to its popular line of Ray-Ban smart glasses. These screens could show up in a future iteration of the device as early as next year. The likely release window is the second half of 2025.

According to folks familiar with Meta’s plans, the screens will be on the smaller side and will likely be used to display notifications or responses from Meta’s AI virtual assistant. It’s highly unlikely that the company is planning on making this a full mixed-reality device just yet.

For that, Meta has the recently-unveiled Orion AR glasses, which are still several years out. The same report indicates that the positive response to the Orion glasses has likely accelerated development and possibly ensured a commercial release. It was uncertain if those glasses would remain an in-house prototype.

9To5Mac reported: Ray-Ban Meta have been the most successful smart glasses to date, offering an appealing mix of features in a form factor which is visually indistinguishable from normal sunglasses.

So far, all of the AI functionality, notifications, and messaging features have relied on the glasses reading things to you through integrated speakers, but a new report says a future model will get a display, and that it could launch as early as next year.

Meta showed off an early prototype of its Orion AR glasses back in the summer. While they are undeniably clunky, and reputedly have a manufacturing cost of $10,000, they did provide a persuasive look at what we can one day expect in something that looks and feels more like the company’s existing smart glasses.

In my opinion, people who want to use Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses will have to wait for a while before they can purchase them.