Name: How Meta Fell Behind in AI and How It Plans to Catch Up
Uploaded: 2023-07-10T12:21:00Z
Duration: 5 min 51 s
Description: Meta was a leader in artificial intelligence about a decade ago, but it’s lost its edge since then. WSJ social-media reporter Salvador Rodriguez explains how Meta fell behind in the race and it’s catch up. Julie Chang hosts. Illustration: Kathleen Fu

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Meta was a leader in artificial intelligence about a decade ago, but it’s lost its edge since then. WSJ social-media reporter Salvador Rodriguez explains how Meta fell behind in the race and it’s catch up. Julie Chang hosts. Illustration: Kathleen Fu

https://m.wsj.net/video/20230710/59b6ce4b-ef22-441d-a817-21fdbfe7b9c0/2/hls/manifest-hd-wifi.m3u8

How Meta Fell Behind in AI and How It Plans to Catch Up

Julie: Welcome to Tech News Briefing. It's Monday, July 10th. I'm Julie Chang for the Wall Street Journal, filling in for Zoe Thomas. We've talked a lot on the show about the efforts of OpenAI, Microsoft, and Google when it comes to developing artificial intelligence, but one company you hear less about in this space is Facebook owner, Meta. That's despite the fact that CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, made efforts to get into AI a decade ago. TNB'S host, Zoe Thomas, spoke with WSJ social media reporter, Salvador Rodriguez, about how Meta found itself playing catch-up in AI. Here's their conversation.

Zoe: Sal, can you give us a bit of background on the historical moves that Meta took in the AI field?

Salvador: Yeah, so about a decade ago Meta decided that AI was gonna be a priority for the company, and part of what they did is they recruited some leading edge researchers in that field to help start Meta's efforts in this regard. Primarily, they went with an individual named Yan LeCun. What they put together was an effort to tackle AI from a more academic perspective, really working on the research, the theory behind it all. But what kind of got left by the wayside was the productization of what their researchers were finding. They were making breakthroughs, but it wasn't really getting into Facebook or Instagram or any of Meta's other services. It's like the researchers weren't talking to the engineers.

Zoe: What has Meta said about the fact that they seem to at least not be a leader in this space at the moment?

Salvador: Well, what happened is that after ChatGPT was released in November of last year, that was kind of a wake up call for the entire industry that AI has now entered a new phase, being led by large language models and generative AI, and essentially what CEO Mark Zuckerberg and some of his lieutenants did is they really jumped on it and made AI a priority. They set up a whole brand new group for AI within the company, focused specifically on generative AI and specifically on taking that kind of new AI technology and making products with it.

Zoe: Are these steps helping them to catch up to some of their rivals?

Salvador: Well, I would say that catch up is a hard term because everyone right now is trying to inject that into their own products. And so essentially, Meta is part of those companies that is exploring this wants to make sure that they give it a good look, make sure that whatever cases can be applied to their services, that they are applied. And that started about at the start of 2023. We're now halfway through the year, they've announced some projects, but we've really have not yet seen anything at the consumer level that has come out just yet. There has been one chatbot that they've talked about that is now being tested among employees. It's called Meta Mate. It's essentially, as I understand it, their version of a ChatGPT, but we haven't seen anything just yet for the consumers.

Zoe: Has Meta said anything about how AI might fit into its products? I mean, you don't necessarily use ChatGPT when you're on something like Facebook or Instagram. So how would AI enhance some of their products?

Salvador: They've talked about using this kind of new AI to make chatbots for their Messenger type services like WhatsApp, Messenger. They've also talked about using generative AI to create content for Facebook, Instagram, or maybe even building a tool that would allow advertisers to more easily create advertisements to place on Facebook and Instagram. And they've also talked about using generative AI as a way to help people build things for the Metaverse, whether it's like a world in Horizon Worlds, or perhaps an avatar.

Zoe: A lot of companies though, are trying to build up their AI departments, their generative AI capabilities. So what is Meta up against when it's trying to, I don't know, attract new talent or find, you know, different paths from its competitors?

Salvador: Well, part of the challenge is that they are in the middle of this year of efficiency and they've strived to become a leaner company. And so they have laid off people that have worked in AI, they have seen people who worked in their AI departments leave because of burnout or frustration or what have you. And at the same time, this is now a talent field that has become much more in demand, and everyone is trying to hire these folks who are experts in these areas. So certainly from a talent perspective, that could be a challenge for them. But the folks that I've spoken with have expressed that they feel good about the plan that the company has put in place.

Zoe: What's it gonna mean for Meta if it can't get this right? If it falls behind in AI development?

Salvador: For them, it's not as much of an existential question as it might be for Google, for example, but if they can't get this right and perhaps a rival like TikTok or Snapchat does, that could be the springboard for another social media company to surpass Facebook when it comes to being the king of social media.

Zoe: That's our reporter, Salvador Rodriguez.

Julie: And that's it for today's Tech News Briefing. For more tech stories, check out our website, wsj.com. I'm Julie Chang for the Wall Street Journal. Thanks for listening.

WSJ’s tech podcast featuring breaking news, scoops and tips on tech innovations and policy debates, plus exclusive interviews with movers and shakers in the industry.

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