Artificial Intelligence (AI) is going to be a huge focal point for Alphabet and Meta, as the two technology giants prepare to announce their quarterly results next week.
Alphabet's Google is facing an ever growing threat from the likes of OpenAI's ChatGPT and Microsoft's Bing AI, as they make inroads into Google's dominance on the search market.
Also Read | Meta begins second round of layoffs in Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram
Google is already rushing to build AI features into Search and is reportedly eyeing a May 2023 release for an AI project codenamed "Magi". This is supposedly in response to Samsung telling the company that it's considering switching to Bing as the default search engine on its devices.
Magi will offer a more personalised experience by learning user preferences when they search for content.
Meta's huge push into the Metaverse hasn't panned out as the company would have hoped. The technology has taken longer than expected to put together, and some of its own employees have shown some serious doubts on the project.
Despite this, Meta's annual advertising revenue is expected to reach $51.35 billion for 2023, according to MarketWatch. According to a report by the publication, Meta is looking to pivot its focus on AI for the short-term for revenue.
“AI is the hot thing. And Meta is playing down the metaverse for now in favor of AI with advertisers,” said Evelyn Mitchell, senior analyst at Insider Intelligence, in an interview with MarketWatch.
Alphabet and Google CEO, Sundar Pichai told CBS in a recent interview that AI is, "the most profound technology humanity is working on", even more than fire, water or electricity. "We are developing technology which, for sure, one day will be far more capable than anything we've ever seen before," he added.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg put up a Facebook post in February, where he announced that the company was creating, "a new top-level product group at Meta focused on generative AI".
Also Read | Google to use generative AI in its ad business - FT
Over the longer term, Meta plans to develop, "AI personas that can help people in a variety of ways".
They are also focusing on experiences with, "text (like chat in WhatsApp and Messenger), with images (like creative Instagram filters and ad formats), and with video and multi-modal experiences".
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