In an exclusive interview for Stratechery, the CEO of Meta, Mark Zuckerberg, presented his vision on the impact that artificial intelligence will have on the digital experience and, specifically, in the advertising business. His flagship project is Meta AI, the new generative artificial intelligence app integrated into WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger and now available as a standalone application.
The conversation, which took place shortly before the LlamaCon event and Meta’s quarterly financial results, also covered topics such as the commitment to open-source models like LLaMA, the metaverse, the role of messaging, the future of devices like smart glasses, and the evolution of social media towards a more personalized and AI-based experience.
The new Meta app seeks to create a personalized universal interface, integrated into the social platforms that already dominate the digital behavior of over 3.3 billion internet users. The ambition: that users can interact with their “personal assistant” via WhatsApp, Messenger, or Instagram Direct, and that this assistant understands their context, preferences, and needs.
This integration has huge implications for the marketing world. Meta plans for companies to create advertising campaigns without the need to generate content or define audiences: it will suffice to connect their account, set a business goal, and let the AI take care of the rest. This is an evolution towards what Zuckerberg calls the “ultimate business agent”, capable of designing creatives, optimizing targeting, and measuring results, all without human intervention.
“We are moving towards a system where businesses pay only for results, without having to produce creatives or segment audiences. Any company will be able to tell us its goal, connect its bank account and we will take care of generating sales,” explains the creator of Facebook.
This approach redefines what we understand as digital advertising and aims to increase its share of the GDP, especially in markets where automation is still low. Moreover, it opens a new paradigm of ads based on conversations and personalized interaction, with the potential to boost conversions and facilitate the entry of small advertisers without prior experience.
The standalone Meta AI app allows users to interact with artificial intelligence both by text and voice, with a focus on natural and continuous interaction. One of its standout features will be the ability to ask the AI what it knows about you, based on your activity on Facebook and Instagram, a way to make the algorithm transparent and allow for direct feedback.
This level of personalization and contextual memory paves the way for truly conversational advertising. Meta seeks to position this app as the most social and empathetic alternative to ChatGPT, with the differentiator of being integrated into the world’s most popular communication platforms.
In this regard, Zuckerberg emphasized that the true value lies in enhancing human connections and helping users “be better friends.” AI would not replace relationships, but rather reinforce them, helping for example to remember birthdays, facilitate plans, or even prepare difficult conversations, like a kind of personal relationships coach.
Another strong axis of the interview was the monetization of messaging channels. Applications like WhatsApp or Messenger already have over 100 million active businesses, but their potential is still far from what Zuckerberg considers possible. AI will be key to replicating, on a global scale, what is happening today in markets like Thailand or Vietnam, where messaging accounts for up to 2% of the GDP.
With the help of Meta AI, any SME could have a virtual agent that handles customers, closes sales, and offers support, without costs until real results are generated. This performance-oriented freemium model could trigger the adoption of business messaging in the West, multiplying Meta’s revenue in this area.
Even though AI was the dominant topic, Zuckerberg did not overlook the metaverse and Reality Labs, Meta’s hardware lab. He made clear that the company’s vision continues to bet on a world where the physical and the digital integrate but pointed out that the true protagonists will be smart glasses. For him, these devices will be the platform that allows AI to see, hear, and assist the user in real time.
In that context, he described the glasses as “the mobile of the future”, while virtual reality will be like “the television of the future”, more oriented to static entertainment. Although it will be years before the Orion, Meta’s most advanced AR glasses prototype is marketed, they already show the objective of these types of devices, which seek to achieve a complete integration between hardware and artificial intelligence.
Zuckerberg also delved into LLaMA, Meta’s family of open-source AI models. Through its new Llama API, Meta will offer a reference implementation, not to compete in the cloud business, but to ensure stability, customization, and low cost. This responds to a historical frustration with closed mobile platforms, like Apple, which limited the development of innovative experiences within their ecosystems.
In Zuckerberg’s words, open source is not just a philosophy, but a strategy that allows Meta to build a community of developers, gain influence and reduce costs in the long term. Thus, he hopes that Llama becomes the standard on which chips, infrastructures, and applications are optimized in the future.
The interview closed with a reflection that connects all the topics developed throughout the extensive conversation. Zuckerberg acknowledges that although Facebook was born to connect people, today that connection occurs more in private messages than in public feeds, and anticipates that the next phase will be connecting people with AIs. Not to replace relationships but to accompany, assist, and enrich the human experience.
This vision marks a return to the original purpose, but updated with present-day technologies. And, reflecting on the decision to change the company’s name, it also explains why “Meta” remains an apt term: because it encompasses all layers of connection, from chats and content to augmented realities and artificial intelligences.
Photo: Depositphotos
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