Meta AI to get standalone app & paid plans, report claims

ChatGPT, the platform that started the current AI revolution, arrived some years ago as a standalone service that you could access from the web. Later, OpenAI rolled out a dedicated app for mobile devices, expanding the reach of the technology to tens of millions of people. It seems that Mark Zuckerberg’s company Meta wants to follow the same path with a standalone Meta AI app.

It seems that launching dedicated apps will be the way forward for all the big AI companies. Companies like OpenAI, Google, Perplexity, and Anthropic already have their own apps for mobile devices. However, others like Meta and X (FKA Twitter) have limited themselves to offering their AI-powered chatbots only through their main social media products. Elon Musk’s xAI already launched a Grok app for iOS in some countries. Meanwhile, the Android version is in the pre-registration stage.

Meta is reportedly working on a Meta AI standalone app

Now, a new report says that Meta AI will spin off into a separate app. Meta hasn’t confirmed anything about it, but CNBC claims it will, citing insiders familiar with the development. The sources requested anonymity due to the high level of confidentiality surrounding the project. So, Zuckerberg is probably not happy at all right now.

In January, Zuckerberg expressed his intentions to turn Meta into the leading AI company. “This is going to be the year when a highly intelligent and personalized AI assistant reaches more than 1 billion people, and I expect Meta AI to be that leading AI assistant,” the company’s CEO said in January. The launch of a standalone app for Meta AI may be in line with that ambitious goal.

Currently, Meta AI is only available from services like Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. However, there are people who are reluctant to have social platforms. Many others simply use messaging services from other companies. By limiting the Meta AI chatbot’s access to its social products, the firm has been potentially losing millions of new users.

Meta AI arrived in 2023 and has received multiple improvements since then. It is the typical AI-powered chatbot offering question-solving capabilities, image generation, answer suggestions, and more. Meta seems to want its product to surpass big names like OpenAI and Alphabet this year. However, the goal seems complicated given the progress they have presented.

Paid plans as a potential monetization tool

The report states that Meta will also try to monetize Meta AI by launching paid plans. Currently, all of Meta’s chatbot services are free, although it lacks advanced functions that other AI platforms do have. Launching paid plans could help the company close the gap with others and generate some money.

Susan Li, Meta’s finance chief, said Meta AI offers “pretty clear monetization opportunities here over time, including paid recommendations and including a premium offering.”

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, has already reacted to the leak of the up-and-coming Meta AI app. “Ok fine maybe we’ll do a social app,” he said in a joking X/Twitter post.