Meta AI is Coming to the EU With Some Limitations

Meta has just announced a big market expansion for its Meta AI chatbot, which will roll out to 41 European countries and 21 other markets. Meta AI is accessible within Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, though the experience for EU users will be limited to chat conversations.

The rollout of Meta AI in the EU actually started in November on Ray-Ban Meta Glasses in France, Italy, Ireland and Spain. However, the experience also came with limitations EU users of the smart glasses are currently unable to get answers to questions about what they see.

As you may know, the launch of Meta AI in the EU has been delayed due to discussions with local regulators about Meta’s AI training practices. The version of Meta AI that’s launching in the EU wasn’t trained using data from EU users. At launch, EU users won’t be able to use Meta AI to generate or edit images.

“It’s taken longer than we would have liked to get our AI technology into the hands of people in Europe as we continue to navigate its complex regulatory system – but we’re glad we’re finally here,” the company said today. “Over the coming weeks, we’ll take the first step in making Meta AI’s chat function available in six European languages, with a view to find parity with the US and expand our offering over time.”

Meta recently announced that Meta AI has over 700 million monthly active users, making it one of the most popular AI chatbots on the market. In comparison, OpenAI’s ChatGPT recently crossed 400 million weekly active users, and it continues to dominate the AI conversation due to new AI models launching every month or so.

Meta AI does have the advantage of being integrated into apps with a combined user base of over 3 billion monthly active users. The chatbot is also available on the web at meta.ai, and a dedicated mobile app is reportedly in the works as well.