Meta is upgrading its AI chatbot with new productivity features to compete with rivals like Gemini, ChatGPT, and Claude. The update is powered by Meta's newly released Muse Spark 1.1 model and marks a reversal from the company's previous strategy focused on entertainment and connection with friends.
The new capabilities include tapping into calendars to generate daily briefings, planning events, browsing Facebook Marketplace for furniture, and searching for restaurants while checking schedule availability. Users can set up recurring tasks like weekly meal plans or product restock alerts without re-prompting, and can steer the AI's direction mid-response similar to ChatGPT. The assistant can also summarize web information into reports, presentations, or plans.
Meta's updated AI assistant is rolling out today in "select markets" in the Meta AI app and on the web, with availability expanding to more countries and platforms like WhatsApp "in the coming weeks."