Mark Zuckerberg teases new AI products as social media platforms join the ChatGPT tech rush

Major tech companies first adapted AI chat tools for use in developing new search engine products and now prominent tech platforms are incorporating it into social media and messaging services too. 

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg teased this week that his company was working on using generative AI for new features on Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger. 

Earlier this month, Microsoft said its Bing search engine would use OpenAI’s ChatGPT tech. Google said it was making its own chatbot called Bard and rolled out new artificial intelligence tools for its search, maps and translate products. 

ChatGPT is an artificial intelligence chatbot that generates text in response to user queries. 

Now, tech companies that built their brands on social media services are joining the AI craze. Mr. Zuckerberg said in a Facebook post that Meta was pulling workers together from across its company to create a product team focused on generative AI.

Instagram users can expect to see new experiences with images such as different filters and ad formats leveraging generative AI in the long term, according to Mr. Zuckerberg. 

Meta is also working on creating new tools over the long haul for its text-focused platforms WhatsApp and Messenger. 

“We have a lot of foundational work to do before getting to the really futuristic experiences, but I’m excited about all of the new things we’ll build along the way,” Mr. Zuckerberg said. 

Snapchat appears farther along. The instant messaging platform said Monday it was launching “My AI,” a new chatbot using OpenAI’s GPT tech customized for Snapchat that would first be made available to paying subscribers later this week. 

“As with all AI-powered chatbots, My AI is prone to hallucination and can be tricked into saying just about anything,” Snapchat said on its website. “Please be aware of its many deficiencies and sorry in advance!” 

Snapchat may be known for its disappearing messages but conversations with its new AI tool won’t go away.