Back in Action! Meta AI Reenters Europe with Exciting Text Chat Features
Meta AI has returned to Europe after nearly a year out, starting with text-based chat.
It seems like yesterday when Meta started its year-long pause in Europe. Now, the tech giant has announced the return of its AI chatbot, Meta AI, to the European market. From this week, Meta AI will be available across Meta's four major platforms - WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger – in 41 European countries and 21 overseas territories. However, the initial plan is to offer only text-based chat functionality.
Overcoming Regulatory Concerns
Meta AI initially launched in the US in 2023 and while an introduction of the assistant was planned in Europe, it was forced to postpone the rollout due to concerns raised by Ireland's data protection authority regarding the use of data from Facebook and Instagram users for model training. Similar regulatory concerns were raised for other assistants, leading to the suspension of the rollout of its multi-modal Llama AI model in the EU.
Currently, Meta says its AI assistant in Europe will function solely as a chatbot, primarily assisting users with brainstorming, trip planning, or answering specific questions using web information. European users can also use Meta AI to suggest content for their Instagram Stories. However, features like image generation, editing, or asking questions about photos are unavailable. Notably, the model has not been trained on the personal data of EU users.
More Rollouts Soon
A spokesperson from Meta confirmed the launch of the service in Europe, with other rollouts set for the future. "For now, we are only offering a text-only model in the region, which has not been trained on first-party data from EU users. We will continue to work with regulators to bring the benefits of Meta’s AI innovations to the people of Europe and enjoy the advantages already available in other parts of the world," he said.
Last November, Meta began integrating some AI features into its Ray-Ban smart glasses in the EU, but these glasses currently lack multi-modal capabilities, preventing users from querying Meta AI about what they see. So far, Meta doesn't appear to have abandoned plans to introduce more features to the European version of Meta AI, stating it will strive to “stay aligned with the US and expand our offerings over time.”
