The competitive AI leader Meta has decided to set Meta AI as an independent app to increase traffic

According to media reports, Meta will establish an independent AI app product called Meta AI, which will stand alongside Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, and is expected to launch in the second quarter. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg had planned to surpass competitors like OpenAI and Alphabet in the field of artificial intelligence by the end of the year, and analysts believe this marks an important step in that plan.

Meta AI Independence Long Planned

The Meta AI chatbot was launched in September 2023 within the company's applications, positioning it as a digital assistant based on generative artificial intelligence that can respond to user inputs and generate images within its existing applications. In April of this year, Meta further strengthened the position of Meta AI in its applications by replacing the search functions of Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger with the chatbot.

During the Meta fourth-quarter earnings call in January, Zuckerberg told analysts,

“This year will be a year of highly intelligent and personalized AI assistants reaching over a billion people, and I expect Meta AI to become the leading AI assistant in this field.”

Unlike competitive generative AI tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity, Meta AI is currently only accessible through the website or the company's applications like Facebook and WhatsApp. Sources told the media that while Meta's large user base can access Meta AI through its various applications, if it becomes a standalone app, users may be able to interact with Meta AI more deeply.

In January, Zuckerberg publicly acknowledged a user's suggestion on Threads that Meta should create a standalone Meta AI mobile application.

The Threads user wrote,

An independent Meta AI app could help the company unify the digital assistant across different hardware platforms like smartphones and Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, helping users organize their conversation history with the assistant and achieve deeper personalization and customization.

Zuckerberg responded to the user with a red "100" emoji, which typically indicates complete agreement in online communication.

Additionally, sources revealed to the media that Meta plans to test a paid subscription service for Meta AI, similar to the monthly payment models offered by OpenAI and Microsoft for ChatGPT and Copilot chatbots.

Meta CFO Susan Li told analysts in January that while the company's current efforts on Meta AI focus on “creating an excellent user experience,” there are “very clear commercialization opportunities in the future, including paid recommendations and premium services.”

Insufficient Access to Meta AI Blamed on Lack of Independence

Li told analysts in January that Meta AI has approximately 700 million monthly active users, an increase from 600 million in December of last year. Nevertheless, analysts still find it difficult to directly compare the usage of Meta AI with ChatGPT and other competitors, as it has not yet become a standalone application.

David Curry, an editor at the market research firm BusinessofApps, stated to the media in December that the monthly visits to the Meta AI standalone website are less than 10 million, far below major AI services like ChatGPT and Gemini, and even lower than some mid-sized AI platforms like Anthropic.

India is the "largest market for Meta AI usage," Li told analysts in July. This trend aligns with the increased user retention and activity on WhatsApp. In January, Li mentioned that Meta AI usage is highest on WhatsApp, followed by Facebook, which attracts users through "deep information flow integration," allowing them to ask Meta AI questions related to recommended content.

Meta plans to launch a standalone Meta AI application, a strategy similar to Google and Elon Musk's xAI. Both companies recently launched standalone applications for their respective digital assistants, Gemini and Grok.

Google will launch the Gemini application for Android users in February 2024 and announced in November that iOS users can download the standalone application. Last week, the company removed the feature that allowed iOS users to access Gemini through the Google mobile app and notified users: "To continue using Gemini, please download the new Gemini app from the App Store."

In January, xAI launched the official iOS application for Grok and a standalone website, no longer relying on Musk's social media platform X. Currently, users who want to use the Grok Android application still need to join a waiting list.

To Become an AI Leader, Meta Has Opened the Books

According to the "2025 Mobile Market Report" released by SensorTower, ChatGPT remains the most downloaded AI-driven application, with Google Gemini, ByteDance's Doubao, and Microsoft Copilot ranking second to fourth.

Insiders revealed to the media that Zuckerberg is continuously pressuring Meta's generative AI team to improve products, including Meta AI, as he hopes for Meta AI to become the most used chat application globally by the end of the year.

Several employees involved in the project expressed to the media that there is pressure to work seven days a week to keep pace with the AI race. In a layoff announcement in January, Zuckerberg told employees,

"Meta is building some of the most important technologies in the world. Artificial intelligence, the next generation of computing platforms (smart glasses), and the future of social media. This year will be a high-intensity year, and I want to ensure our team has the best talent."