Meta, Facebook’s parent company, is mainly known for its social media and messaging platforms. However, it has been committed to developing artificial intelligence for some time. Meta AI is its main product for the consumer market. That said, the firm had been unable to roll out Meta AI in Europe due to the continent’s strict regulatory rules, until now.
Europe receives less capable Meta AI due to regulations
After a long wait, Meta AI has finally arrived in the old continent. That said, it doesn’t have all the features available in other regions. The regulatory environment remains an obstacle for the company to overcome.
Meta AI has been available in the US since 2023. The firm has integrated it into its social platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, and even WhatsApp. The chatbot offers the classic functions usually available on similar platforms. You can ask it questions, talk to it, ask it to generate images, or ask it to respond to questions about a specific image, for example.
However, Meta AI has been downgraded upon its arrival in the EU. The AI-powered chatbot will only offer text-based functions to users in 41 European countries and 21 overseas territories. This means they won’t be able to generate images or upload their own pictures for the chatbot to analyze and answer questions about. Text functions are still useful for receiving answers or tips. For example, you could ask the platform for some travel recommendations.
In 2023, Meta attempted to roll out its chatbot in Europe as well. However, a ruling from Ireland’s privacy watchdog forced the firm to stop it. The Meta AI’s European version did not use user data from Meta’s social platforms for its training.
“This launch follows almost a year of intensive engagement with various European regulators, and for now, we are only offering a text-only model in the region, which wasn’t trained on first-party data from users in the EU,” said Ellie Heatrick, spokesperson for Meta.
Meta wants to achieve feature parity
Still, the company’s goal is for European users to receive more features. “We will continue to work collaboratively with regulators so that people in Europe have access to and are properly served by Meta’s AI innovations that are already available to the rest of the world,” Heatrick said. She added that Meta will work to “find parity with the US.”
