The social media giant's new app directly rivals ChatGPT. This could mean that the ChatGPT creator needs to improve its tools, or it could trigger a slip for OpenAI.
Competition in the AI market has heated up as Meta challenged OpenAI directly with a new generative AI app.
Meta on April 29 launched the first version of its Meta AI app, built with its open source model Llama 4. The social media giant said it is the first step toward creating a more personal AI.
The new app is consumer-focused and geared for users familiar with WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook and Messenger. Users can use their voice to interact with the app.
Meta AI uses Llama 4 as the underlying model to help users search the web, get recommendations, dive deeper into a topic, or stay connected with friends and family. The assistant is available on all Meta platforms, even Ray-Ban Meta glasses.
Competing with OpenAI
As a consumer product, Meta AI directly competes with ChatGPT, especially because Meta has a massive user base with Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.
"Having access to that many users and data and personalizing it is breathtaking," said Paul Baier, CEO of analyst firm GAI Insights.
He added that while the Meta AI app is geared toward consumers, it signifies the next phase of generative AI competition and the challenges that OpenAI will face in remaining a leading force in the market.
"Chapter 2 for OpenAI means they need to find a different way to compete and find sustainable niches," Baier said. He added that part of the way the vendor can compete is by catering to the business-to-consumer and business-to-business markets with a user experience chatbot that is superior to others.
A GenAI world with a lesser OpenAI
With Meta becoming increasingly stronger in the generative AI market, OpenAI could lose its strong leadership position as its relationship with its initial investor Microsoft fractures, said David Nicholson, an analyst at The Futurum Group.
While Microsoft continues to invest in and provide compute to OpenAI, it has previously revealed that it sees the AI vendor as a competitor. Microsoft has also begun to invest in other AI companies. Moreover, early this year, Microsoft unveiled MAI, an AI model that competes with the OpenAI GPT series. OpenAI has also found strong backers in other investors, such as SoftBank.
They already have all of the pieces, they have access to data, and they have a user base that interacts with them every day.
David NicholsonAnalyst, The Futurum Group
The Microsoft-OpenAI relationship made OpenAI seem more like a part of the Microsoft ecosystem. "Microsoft has always considered what OpenAI is building as a feature of its overall platform," Nicholson said.
Moreover, OpenAI lacks the market share that Google, Meta and Apple have in the consumer arena, he continued.
"They already have all of the pieces, they have access to data, and they have a user base that interacts with them every day," Nicholson said, referring to the consumer tech giants.
Meta's challenge and Google
Meta's competitive play in the consumer market fits with its open source Llama models in the enterprise, but Google and Microsoft are the dominant vendors, Nicholson continued.
For Meta, the challenge will be the lack of trust from parents and government regulators, primarily as the pervasiveness of social media has led to a rise in societal concerns such as loneliness and other mental health issues and as the U.S. government pursues antitrust legal action against the vendor, Baier said.
"Having everyone be able to have AI twins is even a bigger responsibility for Meta," he said. An AI twin is the digital representation of a person's likeness. As Meta moves into the realm of personal AI, it wants to provide users with the opportunity to create that representation and likeness.
Meanwhile, Google expanded its NotebookLM Audio Overviews feature by making it available in over 50 languages. Audio Overviews turns users' resources, such as PDFs or educational materials, into podcast-like conversations. The update introduced a new Output Language option in NotebookLM's settings. With this expansion, Google is targeting educators and students, who can upload sources in NotebookLM and generate podcast-like insights in their preferred language.
Appealing to educators and students means that Google can drive more usage of the tool, Baier said.
Esther Shittu is an Informa TechTarget news writer and podcast host covering AI software and systems.
