by Meta Platforms, Inc. · founded 2023 · updated Sep 2026
Meta AI is a free conversational assistant powered by Meta's Llama 4 models (Scout and Maverick), embedded directly inside WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, Facebook, and Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses. It supports multimodal text, image, and voice interaction, giving it the largest built-in distribution of any AI assistant, though it remains less prominent as a standalone destination than ChatGPT or Gemini.
LLMs & AssistantsFreemiumEstablishedFrom Free (consumer); usage-based via Llama API for developers
◆Consumers already living inside WhatsApp, Instagram, or Facebook who want an assistant without installing a new app
◆Hands-free, voice- and vision-based queries via Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses
◆Developers wanting to build on openly-licensed Llama 4 models via managed cloud APIs
Key integrations
WhatsAppInstagram DMsMessengerFacebookRay-Ban Meta smart glasses
Strengths
＋Unmatched built-in distribution across apps used by billions, including voice interaction on Messenger, Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram DMs
＋Powered by Llama 4 with native multimodal (text+image) understanding and an industry-leading long context window in the Scout variant
＋Free to use with no separate subscription required for core assistant features
Limitations
－Data collection spans public posts, chat interactions, and connected third-party app data, with limited universal opt-out for AI training
－Momentum concerns: multiple original Llama researchers have departed and Meta's own leadership has acknowledged agent-related progress is behind plan
－Low standalone brand engagement compared to ChatGPT, Gemini, or Claude despite far larger raw reach
Evidence behind this score
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Source
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Meta AI is embedded in apps used by over three billion people across WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, and Facebook, and runs on Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses in multiple countries.
Reports in late 2025 indicated 11 of the 14 researchers on the original Llama paper had left Meta, and Zuckerberg admitted Meta's AI agent progress is running behind plan.· re-check
Meta developed Private Processing for Meta AI on WhatsApp built on a Trusted Execution Environment, while voice conversation recordings and transcripts may be shared with vendors for training speech recognition systems.
https://www.meta.com/actions/privacy-progress/
Jan 2026
Meta launched Muse on Sept 8, 2026, a separate personal AI agent (distinct from the Meta AI chatbot) that books travel, drafts emails and fills out forms via its own app, WhatsApp or the web, on a free tier plus Power ($20/mo) and Maximum ($100/mo) tiers
Meta launches Muse, a paid personal agent that acts on your behalf
Meta's Muse books travel, drafts emails and works toward goals you hand it over days, not just in one chat turn. It ships free up to 100 million tokens a week, with Power and Maximum tiers at $20 and $100 a month for people who lean on it harder. Each session runs inside an isolated virtual machine, and Meta says an end-to-end encrypted Confidential VM mode is coming later this year. The launch puts Meta's existing data practices — training on public posts and chat history with no universal opt-out — right next to a product asking users to hand over their calendar, inbox and payment flows.