By Paul Chimodo
Facebook’s parent company on Thursday said Meta is planning to launch functions based on artificial intelligence (AI) in Europe.
This is according to a company statement that comes after a delay due to concerns raised by the EU’s technology watchdog.
Meta said an AI-powered chatbot is initially to be available in six European languages.
Eventually, the company aims to provide the same range of functions as in the U.S, the company said in a Wednesday blog post that did not specify a time frame.
The company said, starting this week, Meta AI will begin rolling out across 41 European Countries, including those in the European Union, as well as 21 overseas territories, marking its largest global expansion of Meta AI to date.
Meta AI was launched in the U.S. in 2023 but the company faced a setback in Europe last year when the Irish data protection authority objected to the use of people’s public posts to train the AI.
AI-powered chatbots are trained using vast amounts of information. According to Meta, the use of public posts in Europe would better prepare the AI for conditions and references in the region.
The company added that Meta is rolling out the chat assistant free of charge in a range of its applications, including messaging services WhatsApp and Messenger.
Known as multimodal AI, in the U.S. the technology can process visual information and speech and is also available in the group’s networked glasses.
The glasses frame comes with a camera and wearers can ask the AI about what they are looking at.