Mark Zuckerberg Aims For AI Assistant Dominance Over Siri, Alexa ...
Meta Platforms, Inc. META is making a significant push into the AI assistant market, aiming to surpass competitors like Apple Inc.‘s AAPL Siri, Alphabet Inc. GOOG, Google’s Assistant, Amazon.com Inc.‘s AMZN Alexa, OpenAI‘s ChatGPT and Microsoft Corp.‘s MSFT Copilot.
What Happened:
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed during the company’s second-quarter earnings call that Meta AI “is on track to achieve our goal of becoming the most used AI assistant by the end of the year.” Zuckerberg emphasized Meta’s strategy to integrate AI across its platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. He highlighted the rapid progress and improvements in Meta AI’s intelligence and features. Meta’s unique approach involves an open-source model with its Llama foundation models, which Zuckerberg believes will accelerate innovation and enhance safety in AI development. Additionally, Meta has launched AI Studio, a platform enabling users to create their own AI agents. Zuckerberg noted the importance of allowing people to create multiple AIs, not just a single assistant.
Why It Matters:
Meta’s aggressive push into the AI assistant market comes at a time when competitors are also ramping up their efforts. In May, Apple Inc. announced plans to overhaul Siri, enabling the assistant to control individual app functions using voice commands. This overhaul required a revamp of Siri's underlying software using large language models, a core technology behind generative AI. In June, Amazon.com Inc. revealed plans for a major Alexa overhaul, integrating conversational generative AI. The project, known internally as "Banyan," will introduce a two-tier system with a premium version potentially costing around $5 monthly. This marks the first major update to the voice assistant since its 2014 launch.
Meanwhile, Meta's second-quarter performance has been impressive, with the company beating analyst estimates on both revenue and EPS. This marks the sixth consecutive quarter of surpassing expectations. The company reported a revenue of $39.07 billion, surpassing the estimated $38.31 billion, and an adjusted EPS of $5.16, beating the estimated $4.73.
Price Action:
Meta shares jumped 7.17% in after-hours trading, reaching $508.87 at the time of writing. The regular session on Wednesday ended with a 2.51% increase, closing at $474.83.
