Google and Meta are among the tech giants that are working on development of AI-powered tools and services. However for Meta, AI wasn’t a priority as it was too focussed on building metaverse, a report said. The report noted that Google CEO Sundar Pichai once complimented Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg for his company’s work in the field but he did not know what achievement Pichai was talking about.
As per a report by Bloomberg, Pichai and Zuckerberg met at a conference in 2021 and during a private conversation, Pichai praised the technological breakthrough that Facebook’s AI team had achieved. However, per people familiar with the matter, Zuckerberg didn’t know what Pichai was talking about.
The report said that this meeting pushed Zuckerberg to take interest in the field and he sought a meeting on his company’s latest work on AI. Meta’s former vice president for AI, Jerome Pesenti, told the publication that Zuckerberg has now “educated himself a lot more” on the subject.
Zuckerberg shifting goalposts
The report also highlighted how Zuckerberg has been shifting the company’s focus and redirecting investments, trying to make the most out of the developments in the tech world.
At one point, he was focused on making his company the largest social media company but in 2019, he tried to launch cryptocurrency, Libra. However, regulatory hurdles dampened his efforts. He then made a huge push into the metaverse, and he renamed Facebook to Meta in October 2021.
Zuckerberg’s metaverse project is yet to provide returns and the company continues to bleed money with the Reality Labs division losing $3.7 billion in the third quarter of Q3. The project has cost Meta nearly $50 billion.
Meta’s AI push
With ChatGPT proving that the people are ready for the ‘AI revolution’, Zuckerberg quickly hopped on the wave.
“In terms of investment priorities, AI will be our biggest investment area in 2024 for both engineering and compute resources. We’re going to continue deprioritising a number of non-AI projects across the company to shift people towards working on AI,” Zuckerberg said in an earnings call last year.
Meta has since launched various language models, including Llama 2, and is one of the prominent AI players in the industry.
As per a report by Bloomberg, Pichai and Zuckerberg met at a conference in 2021 and during a private conversation, Pichai praised the technological breakthrough that Facebook’s AI team had achieved. However, per people familiar with the matter, Zuckerberg didn’t know what Pichai was talking about.
The report said that this meeting pushed Zuckerberg to take interest in the field and he sought a meeting on his company’s latest work on AI. Meta’s former vice president for AI, Jerome Pesenti, told the publication that Zuckerberg has now “educated himself a lot more” on the subject.
Zuckerberg shifting goalposts
The report also highlighted how Zuckerberg has been shifting the company’s focus and redirecting investments, trying to make the most out of the developments in the tech world.
At one point, he was focused on making his company the largest social media company but in 2019, he tried to launch cryptocurrency, Libra. However, regulatory hurdles dampened his efforts. He then made a huge push into the metaverse, and he renamed Facebook to Meta in October 2021.
Zuckerberg’s metaverse project is yet to provide returns and the company continues to bleed money with the Reality Labs division losing $3.7 billion in the third quarter of Q3. The project has cost Meta nearly $50 billion.
Meta’s AI push
With ChatGPT proving that the people are ready for the ‘AI revolution’, Zuckerberg quickly hopped on the wave.
“In terms of investment priorities, AI will be our biggest investment area in 2024 for both engineering and compute resources. We’re going to continue deprioritising a number of non-AI projects across the company to shift people towards working on AI,” Zuckerberg said in an earnings call last year.
Meta has since launched various language models, including Llama 2, and is one of the prominent AI players in the industry.