Main financial assets discussed:
- Meta Platforms Inc. (formerly Facebook)
- Digital advertising market
- Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) market
Top 3 key points:
1. Meta's primary source of revenue, digital advertising, is maturing, and the company's growth is slowing. The recent privacy changes introduced by Apple have also impacted advertising on social media platforms.
2. The Reality Labs division, focused on VR and AR, has yet to report a profit and has been experiencing declining revenues. There are concerns about Meta's ability to generate a return on investment in the VR market.
3. The newly launched Threads app is expected to boost Meta's revenue growth by attracting users from Twitter. However, it is still early to determine the app's impact on Meta's overall growth trajectory.
Recommended actions:
- **Hold**: Meta is currently priced within the range of fair value, and the future performance will largely depend on its ability to increase growth.
- Current investors should carefully consider their portfolio allocation to Meta and may choose to lower their current allocation and bank some profits.
- Long-term investors could consider replacing their long equity position with call options using a stock replacement strategy, particularly with the upcoming earnings announcement.
This article discusses the possibility of Meta's Threads app surpassing Twitter in popularity and mentions a cartoon by KAL in The Economist.
- Meta Platforms, formerly known as Facebook, is exploring the development of artificial intelligence (AI) products to assist creators in connecting with their fans.
- CEO Mark Zuckerberg mentioned the potential use of AI agents or chatbots to facilitate interactions between creators and their audiences.
- The company aims to create experiences that enable people to connect with the creators they admire and help creators build and nurture their communities.
- The specific AI products and features that Meta Platforms plans to develop for this purpose were not disclosed.
- This move aligns with Meta's broader strategy of focusing on the creator economy and enhancing user experiences on its platforms.
- Meta is planning to roll out AI-powered chatbots with different personas on its social media platforms.
- The chatbots are designed to have humanlike conversations and will launch as early as next month.
- Meta sees the chatbots as a way to boost engagement and collect more data on users.
- The chatbots may raise privacy concerns.
- Snapchat has also launched an AI chatbot, but faced criticism and concerns.
- Mark Zuckerberg mentioned that Meta is building new AI-powered products and will share more details later this year.
- More details on Meta's AI roadmap are expected to be announced in September.
- Meta reported 11% year-over-year revenue growth.
Main topic: Meta's updates to Threads to challenge Elon Musk's X (rebranded Twitter) and improve user engagement.
Key points:
1. Meta added the Send on Instagram option, allowing Threads users to publish their posts directly to Instagram DMs.
2. The platform introduced custom alt text for photos and videos, improving accessibility for users.
3. Meta made it easier to tag profiles in Threads posts and verify identity on fediverse platforms like Mastodon.
Meta's future growth relies heavily on AI as it aims to optimize its advertising offerings and emerge as a leader in AI-enhanced digital advertising, despite facing regulatory concerns and competition in the fast-moving AI landscape.
Meta Platforms is outpacing its competitors in the advertising industry's rebound, thanks to its investments in AI, while Google and Snap struggle to show significant growth, strengthening the bullish thesis for Meta and weakening the theses for Google and Snap.
Threads, a new app developed by Meta, reached over 100 million users in just five days after its launch, making it the most successful app launch ever, with plans to make it compatible with other social networks and decentralized platforms in the future.
Generative AI is making its presence felt at the Venice film festival, with one of the highlights being a VR installation that creates a personalized portrait of users' lives based on their answers to personal questions. While there are concerns about the impact of AI on the entertainment industry, XR creators believe that the community is still too small to be seen as a significant threat. However, they also acknowledge that regulation will eventually be necessary as the artform grows and reaches a mass audience.
Meta is developing a new, more powerful and open-source AI model to rival OpenAI and plans to train it on their own infrastructure.
Meta, formerly known as Facebook, is reportedly developing a powerful new AI model to compete with OpenAI's GPT-4 and catch up in the Silicon Valley AI race.
Tech firm Metaphysic has unveiled its new system, Metaphysic Pro, which aims to help actors and other individuals navigate the management of their personal data, including their likeness and voice, using generative AI algorithms to create their own face, voice, and performance data over time, while also addressing issues such as consent and compensation.
Meta Platforms (META) has leveraged the metaverse and the AI boom to secure a spot on the IBD 50 and IBD Leaderboard, joining other AI companies like Nvidia, Microsoft, Alphabet, and Amazon.com. Meta Platforms has released Code Llama, a large language model aimed at innovating in generative AI and making workflows faster for developers, further solidifying its partnership with Microsoft.
Meta Platforms (META) is set to detail its metaverse and artificial intelligence efforts at its Connect conference, with analysts expecting a positive impact on the stock as it forms a cup-with-handle base and offers an early entry point above its September 20 high of 308.06.
Meta is testing AI chatbots called Gen AI Personas to attract younger customers, but their outdated characters and humor may not resonate with Gen Z, who have varying reactions to chatbots and concerns about privacy.
Meta plans to release personality-driven AI chatbots across various platforms to attract young users, with the first bots expected to launch this week. The bots will be available on social media sites such as Instagram, Facebook, and Whatsapp and aim to increase chat engagement while providing potential productivity tools. Internal documents reveal bots like "Bob the Robot" and "Alvin the Alien," with the former designed to resonate with young people through farcical humor and the latter potentially collecting personal information. Meta's move to target younger users comes in response to TikTok's popularity, and they are also reportedly developing chatbot tools for celebrities.
Meta is preparing to showcase new XR devices such as the Meta Quest 3 VR headset and second-gen Ray-Ban smart glasses, along with new generative AI chatbots, at its annual Connect event, while also emphasizing the role of AI in its vision for the metaverse.
Meta Platforms is hosting a two-day event on AI and the metaverse, featuring the launch of Quest 3 and AI bots.
Meta is entering the AI chatbot competition with its own assistant and a range of AI characters, offering features such as real-time web results through a partnership with Microsoft's Bing and generating images via prompts, with the aim of providing a conversational and immersive user experience.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg introduced new artificial intelligence tools, celebrity-endorsed digital assistants, and innovative products like the Quest 3 VR headset and Ray-Ban smart glasses during the Meta Connect conference, aiming to boost the development of the metaverse.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg believes there is a significant demand for AI versions of celebrities, but due to brand safety concerns, it may be a 'next year' project, allowing consumers to interact with their favorite stars in a fun and engaging way.
Generative AI tools, such as those developed by YouTube and Meta, are gaining popularity and going mainstream, but concerns over copyright, compensation, and manipulation continue to arise among artists and creators.
Meta is unveiling AI-powered bots on WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram, along with image editing features and AI stickers, to showcase its AI capabilities and compete with tech giants like Microsoft and Google.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and AI researcher Lex Fridman showcased Meta's metaverse technology, including ultra-realistic avatars, during a podcast, demonstrating a sense of presence and intimacy that Fridman described as "incredible"; Meta is betting on the integration of AI into virtual and augmented reality to create a metaverse, with the goal of facilitating immersive social experiences and enhanced communication and connection through photorealistic avatars.
Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) is expected to benefit from the AI wave and the personal AI assistant category, presenting a potentially large market opportunity for the company through advertising or subscriptions. Despite the continued spending on the Metaverse and the potential for AR/VR devices to be sold at a loss, Meta remains cheap compared to other tech giants, and the stock is poised for growth.
Meta's Connect keynote focused heavily on the introduction of new AI features, signaling a shift away from the metaverse, which has faced financial challenges and criticism, but AI will still play a significant role in Meta's hardware and the future of the metaverse.
Tech giant Meta (formerly Facebook) is targeting Gen Z with a range of AI features including chatbots with personalities, AI-generated stickers, and AI personalities based on celebrities, but experts are divided on whether this strategy will be successful in capturing the attention and dollars of the demographic.
Meta AI has been announced for Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp, and users can request early access to the service by following specific methods in each app.
Meta's chief technology officer, Andrew Bosworth, asserts that the company is not behind rivals like ChatGPT in generative AI, emphasizing that the majority of the world's population will have their first experience with generative AI through Meta's platforms.
Generative AI, fueled by big tech investment, will continue to advance in 2024 with bigger models, increased use in design and video creation, and the rise of multi-modal capabilities, while also raising concerns about electoral interference, prompting the demand for prompt engineers, and integrating into apps and education.
Meta has launched AI-powered chatbots across its messaging apps that mimic the personalities of celebrities, reflecting the growing popularity of "character-driven" AI, while other AI chatbot platforms like Character.AI and Replika have also gained traction, but the staying power of these AI-powered characters remains uncertain.
Meta Platforms is using public Facebook and Instagram posts to train its new Meta AI virtual assistant, aiming to improve AI performance by studying real user behaviors and preferences, while excluding datasets with personal information like Microsoft-owned LinkedIn, highlighting the balance between technological advancements and user privacy.
Meta Platforms showcased its new generative AI tools, including AI assistants, chatbots, and image generators, which could increase engagement with its apps and drive revenue for its messaging businesses, potentially propelling the company back into the $1 trillion club.
Meta Platforms has introduced new generative AI tools to its Ad Manager software.
Meta is launching generative AI features for advertisers, allowing them to create backgrounds, expand images, and generate multiple versions of ad text, aiming to assist brands and save time.
Meta has unveiled "Meta AI," a generative AI assistant featuring celebrity alter egos like Kendall Jenner, Snoop Dogg, Tom Brady, Naomi Osaka, Chris Paul, and Paris Hilton to enhance user engagement with AI.
Meta is reportedly paying a top creator up to $5 million for six hours of work in the studio to use their likeness as an AI assistant, as part of the company's new feature that features celebrities' images for its chatbots.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg discussed the company's metaverse strategy at the Meta Connect 2023 event, highlighting the importance of AI in their products and partnerships with Qualcomm. The newly announced Quest 3 headset offers improved features but faces challenges due to its higher price compared to its predecessor. Meta's Ray-Ban smart glasses have seen improvements and the company is focused on expanding its services and enterprise applications. AI is also a key focus for Meta, with the inclusion of AI assistants and the establishment of an AI Studio for developers. Overall, Meta aims to deliver high-quality hardware and improve user experiences in the XR space.
Meta's open-source AI model, Llama 2, has gained popularity among developers, although concerns have been raised about the potential misuse of its powerful capabilities, as Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg took a risk by making the model open-source.
Meta, formerly known as Facebook, is reportedly paying a top creator up to $5 million over two years for using their likeness as an AI assistant, as the company introduces 28 AI chatbots with different personalities that use celebrities' images.
Meta's Threads app, seen as the top contender to rival Twitter, now offers free thread editing and a new voice threads feature, according to CEO Mark Zuckerberg, making it a more attractive option compared to Twitter's paid editing feature.
Main topic: Meta's growth-hacking tactics for boosting engagement on Threads.
Key points:
1. Meta is promoting Threads by cross-posting Threads posts to users' Facebook feeds.
2. Users have expressed concern about their Threads posts being put in front of their Facebook friends.
3. Meta has previously hinted at using its larger apps to boost Threads' growth and engagement.