Meta AI is set to launch across European nations, making its debut in the European Union (EU) approximately 18 months after its initial introduction. This decision follows an extended delay instigated by the EU’s Data Protection Authority (DPA), which prompted the company to pause its AI services rollout in the region for several months. Now, Meta is expanding its AI capabilities to all 41 European countries, although some features are not yet operational in this market.
In a recent announcement on their official newsroom page, the social media titan revealed the rollout and underscored its success in navigating the EU’s intricate regulatory landscape. This rollout marks the company’s most extensive expansion of Meta AI to date, covering 41 EU nations along with 21 overseas territories.
Users will be able to access Meta AI as a chatbot on platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger within Europe. The company indicated that it is incorporating support for six different European languages, although the specific languages have not been disclosed. It is important to note that certain functionalities available in other regions will not be accessible in Europe.
While the chatbot’s text-based features will operate normally in the EU, allowing for text queries, real-time web searches, content generation, and dialogue with Meta AI, users will also have the ability to call upon the chatbot in group chats for assistance. They can retrieve content such as videos and Reels through keyword prompts.
However, capabilities like image generation and editing, along with inquiries regarding images, will not be available. Additionally, voice interaction features are also excluded from the European offering. The responses generated by Meta AI could lack personalization and may not fully reflect the cultural nuances across the various European countries since the AI model does not leverage EU user data for training.
“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,” stated a Meta spokesperson, Ellie Heatrick, in an interview with Technology News.
