By Gavin Boyle

As Meta expands further into the world of AI, CEO Mark Zuckerberg shared plans to create a paid tier and the inclusion of ad promotions as near-term goals for the platform.

“I expect that we’re going to be largely focused on scaling and deepening engagement for at least the next year before we’ll be ready to start building out the business,” Zuckerberg said.

That first step came in April when Meta launched a stand-alone AI app allowing users to access the company’s chatbot away from Facebook or Instagram. This placed it in a similar realm to the other AI companies who also offer access to their AI business as a standalone suite of tools.

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“We’re launching a new Meta AI app built with Llama 4, first step toward building a more personal AI,” the company announced at the end of April. “People around the world use Meta AI daily across WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook and Messenger. And now, people can choose to experience a personal Ai designed around voice conversations with Meta AI inside a standalone app. This release is the first version, and we’re excited to get this in people’s hands and gather their feedback.”

Related: Will the U.S. Government Start Using Meta’s AI?

The Meta AI app offers features that have come to be expected from this technology, including a chat mode and web search capabilities to help users solve problems. The app also uses data from Meta’s other platforms to help cater the experience to individual users.

As Meta continues to step into the world of AI, Zuckerberg is potentially going back on some promises he made in previous years as he criticized other companies for developing the technology for the sake of profit. Instead, he praised the idea of open source development, making the code available for all to use.

“A key difference between Meta and closed model providers is that selling access to AI models isn’t our business model,” Zuckerberg said in July of 2024. “That means openly releasing Llama doesn’t undercut our revenue, sustainability, or ability to invest in research like it does for closed providers.”

As he laid out the future of Meta AI, Zuckerberg appears to have changed his mind on this issue. Whether it be because of rising costs or pressure from investors, Meta is now looking to monetize the product and potentially limit millions of people from accessing the full power of Llama by introducing a cost to access the chatbot.

Read Next: Meta Plans To Share Their AI Tech ‘Accessible To All Businesses’

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