Meta AI Bot Used a Billion Times Monthly, Says Mark Zuckerberg

23 May 2025, Saxony, Dresden: The logo of the AI software Meta AI from the Facebook group Meta is displayed on the screen of a laptop and iPhone. (dpa)
23 May 2025, Saxony, Dresden: The logo of the AI software Meta AI from the Facebook group Meta is displayed on the screen of a laptop and iPhone. (dpa)
TT
20

Meta AI Bot Used a Billion Times Monthly, Says Mark Zuckerberg

23 May 2025, Saxony, Dresden: The logo of the AI software Meta AI from the Facebook group Meta is displayed on the screen of a laptop and iPhone. (dpa)
23 May 2025, Saxony, Dresden: The logo of the AI software Meta AI from the Facebook group Meta is displayed on the screen of a laptop and iPhone. (dpa)

Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg touted the tech firm's generative artificial intelligence (Gen AI) assistant on Wednesday, telling shareholders it is used by a billion people each month across its platforms.

Zuckerberg noted the milestone anew at Meta's annual gathering of shareholders and as the social media behemoth vies with Google, Microsoft, OpenAI and others to be a leader in Gen AI.

It was not clear how much Meta AI use involved people seeking out the chatbot versus passive users of Meta AI, as it is built into features in its family of apps.

Since Google debuted AI Overviews in search results a year ago, it has grown to more than 1.5 billion users, according to Google chief executive Sundar Pichai.

"That means Google Search is bringing Gen AI to more people than any other product in the world," Pichai said.

Google's AI Overviews are automatically provided summaries of search results that appear instead of the previous practice of simply showing pages of blue links to relevant websites.

Pichai said last week that Google's dedicated Gemini AI app has more than 400 million monthly users.

Tech rivals are rapidly releasing new AI products despite ongoing challenges with preventing misinformation and establishing clear business models, and little sense of how the tech will affect society.

Meta unveiled its first standalone AI assistant app on April 29, giving users a direct path to its Gen AI models.

"A billion people are using Meta AI across our apps now, so we made a new standalone Meta AI app for you to check out," Meta CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg said in a video posted on Instagram at the time.

Zuckerberg said the app "is designed to be your personal AI" and would be primarily accessed through voice conversations with the interactions personalized to the individual user.

Use of Meta AI is growing fastest on WhatsApp, according to chief financial officer Susan Li.

"Our focus for this year is deepening the experience and making Meta AI the leading personal AI," Zuckerberg said when Meta announced quarterly earnings at the end of April.



Nvidia, AMD to Pay 15% of China Chip Sale Revenue to US Government

The logo of Nvidia Corporation is seen during the annual Computex computer exhibition in Taipei, Taiwan May 30, 2017. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu/File Photo
The logo of Nvidia Corporation is seen during the annual Computex computer exhibition in Taipei, Taiwan May 30, 2017. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu/File Photo
TT
20

Nvidia, AMD to Pay 15% of China Chip Sale Revenue to US Government

The logo of Nvidia Corporation is seen during the annual Computex computer exhibition in Taipei, Taiwan May 30, 2017. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu/File Photo
The logo of Nvidia Corporation is seen during the annual Computex computer exhibition in Taipei, Taiwan May 30, 2017. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu/File Photo

Nvidia and AMD agreed to share 15% of their revenues from chip sales to China with the US government, a US government official has confirmed.

President Donald Trump's administration halted the sale of advanced computer chips to China back in April over national security concerns, but Nvidia and AMD revealed in July that Washington would allow them to resume sales of the H20 and MI308 chips, which are used in artificial intelligence development, Reuters reported.

The official, who insisted on anonymity to discuss a policy not yet formally announced, confirmed to The Associated Press the revenue sharing terms of the deal, and said the broad strokes of the initial report by The Financial Times were accurate.

The FT reports that Nvidia and AMD agreed to the financial arrangement as a condition for obtaining export license to resume sales to China.

Nvidia did not comment about the specific details of the agreement or its quid pro quo nature, but said they would adhere to the export rules laid out by the administration.

"We follow rules the US government sets for our participation in worldwide markets. While we haven’t shipped H20 to China for months, we hope export control rules will let America compete in China and worldwide,” Nvidia wrote in a statement to the AP. “America cannot repeat 5G and lose telecommunication leadership. America’s AI tech stack can be the world’s standard if we race.”

AMD did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

The top Democrat on a House panel focusing on competition with China raised concerns over the reported agreement, calling it “a dangerous misuse of export controls that undermines our national security.”

Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, the ranking member of the House Select Committee on China, said he would seek answers about the legal basis for this arrangement and demand full transparency from the administration.

“Our export control regime must be based on genuine security considerations, not creative taxation schemes disguised as national security policy,” he said. “Chip export controls aren’t bargaining chips, and they’re not casino chips either. We shouldn’t be gambling with our national security to raise revenue.”

Back in July, Nvidia argued that tight export controls around their chip sales would cost the company an extra $5.5 billion. They’ve argued that such limits hinder US competition in a sector in one of the world’s largest markets for technology, and have also warned that US export controls could end up pushing other countries toward China’s AI technology.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told CNBC in July that the renewed sale of Nvidia's chips in China was linked to a trade agreement made between the two countries on rare earth magnets.

Restrictions on sales of advanced chips to China have been central to the AI race between the world’s two largest economic powers, but such controls are also controversial. Proponents argue that these restrictions are necessary to slow China down enough to allow US companies to keep their lead. Meanwhile, opponents say the export controls have loopholes — and could still spur innovation. The emergence of China’s DeepSeek AI chatbot in January particularly renewed concerns over how China might use advanced chips to help develop its own AI capabilities.