Nearly a year and a half after its release in the United States, Meta announced this Thursday, March 20th, the gradual launch of its artificial intelligence assistant, Meta AI, in 41 European countries and 21 overseas territories. This deployment marks a major advancement for the multinational, which seeks to democratize generative AI among its users across its leading platforms: WhatsApp, Messenger, Facebook, and Instagram. However, this introduction comes with several notable restrictions imposed by European regulators.
Citing the unpredictable regulatory environment of the EU, Meta had preferred to suspend the launch of its conversational AI just as it had done for its multimodal AI model Llama 3 after the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC), its main regulator, requested it to delay the training of this model on data published by adults on Facebook and Instagram.
After months of discussions, Meta AI is arriving in Europe on WhatsApp and will soon be deployed on Messenger and Instagram. However, unlike its American version, it does not have memory and cannot generate images via the Meta Imagine tool, being limited to text interactions. This limitation is mainly due to the need for the company to comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). By restricting certain features, Meta avoids potential sanctions and attempts to reassure European authorities about its respect for users' rights.
The assistant is integrated into news feeds and discussions, allowing for smooth and rapid interaction. To engage with Meta AI, which supports six European languages including French, users simply need to click on the blue circle icon, and WhatsApp users can also type "@MetaAI" and enter their query. Meta states:
"Whether you're planning a group trip, looking for dinner ideas, solving a particular problem, or just adding a bit of fun to your conversation, Meta AI is your on-demand assistant."
The Meta AI chat function also includes access to information from the Web, allowing users to delve deeper into current topics.
The company of Mark Zuckerberg, which claims over 700 million active users per month for Meta AI, comments:
"It took us longer than expected to deploy our AI technology in Europe, as we continue to navigate through a complex European regulatory system, but we are pleased to have finally achieved it."
To better understand
What is the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and how does it affect the deployment of Meta AI in Europe?
The GDPR is an EU regulation aimed at protecting citizens' privacy by controlling the use of personal data. For Meta AI, this means restricting certain features, such as memory and image generation, to comply with GDPR and avoid sanctions.
Why does the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) play a central role in regulating Meta's technologies in Europe?
The DPC is the lead regulatory authority for companies based in Ireland, like Meta, because of their European headquarters. This gives it a key role in enforcing GDPR, directly affecting the deployment of technologies like Meta AI in Europe.