Meta Launches AI Assistant in UK on Facebook and Instagram

Meta has launched its AI assistant in the UK on Facebook and Instagram, following earlier releases in the US, Australia, and Brazil, The Guardian reported on Wednesday.

Users can access the chatbot by tapping an icon in the app or by purchasing £299 Ray-Ban Meta sunglasses, which feature a voice assistant. The launch faced delays due to regulatory issues, and Meta’s AI services remain unavailable in the EU.

The assistant, powered by the Llama 3.2 AI model, can generate text and images. While it can respond to voice commands using celebrity voices, this feature is not available in the UK. Meta aims to help users brainstorm content and share ideas with their networks.

Concerns about privacy have arisen, as users must fill out an objection form in their app settings to prevent their posts from being used to train Meta’s AI. However, interactions with the AI cannot be blocked from training the model. Meta also announced a new AI model, Movie Gen, capable of creating realistic video and audio clips, though it is not yet publicly available.