SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — If you use Facebook, WhatsApp or Instagram, you've probably noticed new characters popping up in your feed answering your search queries or eagerly providing tidbits of information with varying degrees of accuracy.
That's Meta AI, and it's there to help, at least according to Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who calls it “the most intelligent AI assistant at your disposal.”
The chatbot can recommend local restaurants, provide more information about something you saw in a Facebook post, search for flights, generate images in the blink of an eye, etc. If you're chatting with friends to plan a night out, you can type @MetaAI to invite them into the group conversation and ask them to recommend cocktail bars, etc.
Meta's AI tools are integrated into chat boxes and search bars across the tech giant's platforms — the assistant appears at the top of your chat list in Messenger, for example — and when you ask it about something or “imagine” something, it generates images and animations.
Any new technology is bound to have some issues, including the strange interactions chatbots had when they first started interacting with humans: One bot joined a Facebook moms' group to talk about their gifted kids, while another tried to gift non-existent items to confused members of the Buy Nothing forum.
Meta AI is not universally popular, so if you want to avoid using it, follow these tips:
Can I turn it off?
Some Facebook users don't like chatbots, complaining in online forums that they're tired of having AI constantly pushed on them, or that they just want to stick to what they know. So what if you don't want Meta AI to jump in every time you search for something or scroll through your social feed? Well, you might need a time machine. Meta and other tech companies are in an AI arms race, churning out new language models and trying to convince (or pressure) the public to use them.
The story continues
Sadly, Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp don't offer a button to turn off Meta AI, but there are some (imperfect) workarounds if you want to limit it.
Mute… something like that
In the Facebook mobile app, tap the “Search” button. You may see a prompt that says “Ask Meta AI anything.” Tap the blue triangle on the right, then tap the blue circle with an “i” in it. Here you'll find a “Mute” button, where you can choose to mute the chatbot for more than 15 minutes or “until you change your mind.” You can do the same on Instagram.
Muting it doesn't mean Meta AI goes away completely, though: You'll still see the Meta AI circular logo where the search magnifying glass used to be, and tapping on it will take you to the Meta AI field. This is the new way to search on Meta, and similar to Google's AI summaries, the responses are AI-generated.
We asked the chatbot how to search Facebook without Meta AI results.
“Meta AI aims to be a helpful assistant and is here to answer your questions in the search bar,” the company responded, adding that “you can't opt out of the experience, but you can still search as you normally would by tapping the search button after writing your query.”
Then I asked a (human) Meta spokesperson.
“You can search as you normally would and access a range of results, including results from Meta AI and other results that appear as you type,” a spokesperson said in a statement. “And as you interact with Meta AI, thanks to our search partnership, you can access real-time information without leaving the app you're using.”
Like an eager personal assistant, Meta AI also appears beneath posts in your Facebook News Feed to provide more information about what's being discussed in the post, including the subject of the news article. There's no way to disable this feature, so you'll just have to ignore it.
Use plain old Facebook
The tech website points out that one surefire way to circumvent Facebook's AI assistant is to use the social network's stripped-down mobile site, mbasic.facebook.com, which targets people in developing countries with slow internet connections and older phones. The basic site has a retro feel and looks crude compared to the current version, and even worse on desktop browsers, but it still functions at a basic level and without AI.
Other countries
Meta AI is currently only available in the US and 13 other countries, including Australia, Canada, Ghana, Jamaica, Malawi, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, Singapore, South Africa, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. So, if you don't live in any of these regions, don't worry, you won't be able to use the chatbot – at least for now.
Barbara Ortutai, The Associated Press
