From Layoffs To Hackathons: Zuckerberg Discusses AI Adventures And More At Meta’s Latest Employee Meet

PARIS, FRANCE - FEBRUARY 03: In this photo illustration, the Facebook logo is displayed on the screen of an iPhone in front of a course graph on February 03, 2022, in Paris, France. Share prices for Facebook's parent company, Meta, slumped in after-hours trading after the company reported that social network's daily active users declined to 1.929 billion in Q4 of 2021 from 1.930 billion in the previous quarter. Facebook is losing users for the first time in its history, Mark Zuckerberg's company has seen its profits decline, and the transition to the metaverse promises to be chaotic. (Photo illustration by Chesnot/Getty Images)

MENLO PARK, Calif. — Meta Platforms, Inc (NASDAQ: META) CEO Mark Zuckerberg discussed the company’s artificial intelligence endeavors during a meeting with employees Thursday in the Hacker Square pavilion at the Menlo Park headquarters.

AUSTIN, TEXAS – MARCH 15: Mark Zuckerberg, via video, speaks at Into the Metaverse: Creators, Commerce and Connection during the 2022 SXSW Conference and Festivals at Austin Convention Center on March 15, 2022, in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Samantha Burkardt/Getty Images for SXSW)

Zuckerberg addressed Meta’s recent layoffs but mainly focused on the company’s projects in generative AI, CNBC reports.

“I think that their announcement really showcases the difference in the values and the vision that our companies bring to this in a way that I think is really important,” said Zuckerberg.

Acknowledging the technology’s breakthroughs, he disclosed plans to play an essential and unique role in the industry.

The Facebook parent detailed its work incorporating generative AI models into the metaverse, particularly about AI’s role in creating the 3D visuals for the metaverse.

“We’ve been hearing from creators and public figures who are interested in having a platform that is sanely run, that they believe that they can trust and rely upon for distribution,” said Meta chief of product Chris Cox in reference to Elon Musk’s leadership style.

The company offered its employees access to several internal generative AI tools to help develop prototypes and is hosting a hackathon for workers to showcase their AI projects.

Meta also plans to launch a service for Instagram users to let them modify photos via text prompts and share them in the app’s Stories feature.

ChatGPT sign displayed on OpenAI website and Facebook logo displayed on a screen in the background are seen in this illustration photo taken in Krakow, Poland on February 2, 2023. (Photo by Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images) 

Additionally, Meta wants its Messenger and WhatsApp services to include the ability for users to engage sophisticated AI-powered chatbots as a form of entertainment.

Meta voiced its commitment to releasing AI research to the open-source community.

“By contrast, every demo that [Apple] showed was a person sitting on a couch by themselves,” said Zuckerberg, according to The Verge. “I mean, that could be the vision of the future of computing, but like, it’s not the one that I want.”

META shares traded lower by 0.62% at $262.96 premarket on the last check Friday.

“In the last year, we’ve seen some really incredible breakthroughs – qualitative breakthroughs – on generative AI and that gives us the opportunity to now go take that technology, push it forward, and build it into every single one of our products,” said Zuckerberg in an interview with Axios.

Produced in association with Benzinga

Edited by Alberto Arellano and Kyana Jeanin Rubinfeld