Meta Launches Standalone AI Assistant App, Expanding Challenge to OpenAI and Google
Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook, has launched a dedicated mobile app for its Meta AI assistant, marking a bold step in its ongoing push to compete with artificial intelligence leaders like OpenAI and Google.
Announced on Tuesday, the new standalone app extends the capabilities of Meta AI beyond its existing integration across WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, and Messenger. The move is part of CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s broader strategy to expand Meta’s footprint in the competitive AI sector and accelerate adoption of its in-house virtual assistant.
The app is designed to offer more personalized and context-aware responses by tapping into user-specific data from Meta-owned platforms such as Facebook and Instagram. It is powered by Meta’s latest large language model, Llama 4, which is built to compete with cutting-edge models developed by OpenAI, Google, Anthropic, and Deepseek. The model boasts enhanced reasoning abilities, support for multiple languages, and greater processing efficiency.
In addition to smartphone use, the new Meta AI app will integrate with the company’s AI-powered smart glasses and replace the existing companion app, signaling deeper cross-platform functionality.
The launch coincides with Meta’s first-ever AI developer conference, LlamaCon, which is centered on the company’s Llama model family and aimed at rallying developers around its growing AI ecosystem.
Meta is also preparing to roll out a paid subscription tier for advanced features of its AI chatbot later in the year, although reports suggest the monetization effort may not generate significant revenue until 2026.
Originally introduced in September 2023, Meta AI serves as the company’s flagship virtual assistant, leveraging large language models to deliver advanced conversational and reasoning capabilities. Meta is expected to provide more updates on its AI initiatives when it reports first-quarter earnings on Wednesday.
