Menlo Park, California – April 30, 2025 — Meta Platforms has officially launched a stand-alone artificial intelligence (AI) app, entering direct competition with OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini, Anthropic’s Claude, and xAI’s Grok, in a rapidly evolving AI landscape.
The new app, Meta AI, is powered by the company’s proprietary Llama AI model and is designed to function as a highly capable generative AI assistant. According to Meta, the app offers users a “Discover” feed, allowing them to explore how others are interacting with the tool and receive custom prompts for creative or productive tasks.
This marks Meta’s most ambitious push yet into the AI space, confirming earlier reporting by CNBC from February 2025. The move mirrors recent strategies by major tech competitors, including Google’s Gemini app and Elon Musk’s xAI Grok app, which have also rolled out stand-alone digital assistant applications.
Meta AI Goes Stand-Alone: Key Features and Strategy
Previously, Meta had integrated its AI assistant within its core platforms — Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp — replacing traditional search functions with AI-driven responses. The stand-alone Meta AI app now offers a more robust, independent experience, emphasizing interaction, discovery, and personalized AI assistance.
Meta introduced its first AI chatbot in September 2023, branding it as a generative AI tool capable of understanding natural language and producing both text and images. In April 2024, the chatbot became a central feature across Meta’s suite of apps.
Now, with the new app, Meta is betting big on personalization and accessibility, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently stating that he expects 2025 to be “the year when a highly intelligent and personalized AI assistant reaches more than 1 billion people.”
Massive User Growth and Investment in AI Infrastructure
As of January 2025, Meta AI had amassed 700 million monthly active users, a steep climb from 600 million in December 2024, according to Meta Chief Financial Officer Susan Li. The company sees the app as a gateway to making AI tools mainstream and integral to everyday digital interactions.
The app’s launch coincides with Meta’s first-ever LlamaCon developer conference, held at the company’s Menlo Park headquarters. This event is expected to showcase innovations and applications built using the Llama family of AI models and aims to strengthen the developer ecosystem around Meta AI.
To back its AI ambitions, Meta previously announced plans to invest up to $65 billion in AI infrastructure in 2025, including data centers, computing power, and research and development.
Meta vs. OpenAI: A New Phase in the AI Wars
With Meta’s new AI assistant directly challenging ChatGPT, the AI competition is escalating among the world’s leading tech companies. While OpenAI’s ChatGPT remains the market leader in terms of advanced language models and user engagement, Meta’s massive social platform integration and rapid user growth offer a powerful distribution advantage.
The competition also includes:
- Google’s Gemini, which integrates with Android and Google Search.
- Anthropic’s Claude, focused on ethical AI and enterprise use.
- xAI’s Grok, which is integrated into X (formerly Twitter) and designed for real-time interaction.
What’s Next?
All eyes are on Meta’s upcoming Q1 2025 earnings report, scheduled for Wednesday, where analysts and investors will look for indications of how these AI investments are translating into revenue and user engagement.
The launch of the stand-alone Meta AI app signals a pivotal shift in the way tech companies envision the future of digital assistants—more personalized, accessible, and ubiquitous than ever before.
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