Meta reportedly developing its own AI-powered search engine

By Alpha Photo

Meta , the company behind Instagram and Facebook, is developing its own search engine, according to a report from tech media outlet The Information. According to The Information, Meta's search engine will be powered by AI and will provide a summary of AI-generated answers to search queries.

Meta Develops AI Search Engine to Lessen Reliance on Google, Microsoft — The Information

Meta is reportedly working on its own AI-powered search engine, too - The Verge
https://www.theverge.com/2024/10/28/24282017/meta-ai-powered-search-engine-report

Instagram and Facebook have built-in Meta AI bots, which use Google and Microsoft Bing to answer questions about recent news and events. According to a source at The Information who spoke with Meta's search engine team, the Meta AI team has been working on building an information database for the chatbot for about eight months since around February 2024, and is planning to reduce reliance on Google and Microsoft and replace them with their own AI answers. It is also expected to be a backup option if Google or Microsoft withdraw from AI search engines.

Meta is actively promoting the development and utilization of AI, such as the release of Llama 3 , an open source large-scale language model, and the introduction of AI tools to generate images and text for advertising. In addition, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has a long-term vision of 'building general-purpose artificial intelligence (AGI) and responsibly open sourcing it,' and he places importance on smart glasses that can constantly interact with AI as a next-generation device, actively demonstrating his vision of utilizing AI.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announces that he aims to develop and open-source general artificial intelligence (AGI), and is also building a computing infrastructure including 350,000 H100s - GIGAZINE

On the other hand, there are concerns about the risks associated with AI development, such as reports that Meta executives were considering using copyrighted content for AI training even in light of the risk of litigation. In August 2024, Business Insider reported that Meta released a bot that crawls the web to collect data for AI models and related products. In the past, it has been pointed out that the book dataset 'Books3' used to train Meta's large-scale language model 'LLaMA' contains copyrighted works, and some experts have criticized web crawling as 'suspected of infringing intellectual property rights and copyrights.'

Meta is also working on building location data that can compete with Google Maps, and it is believed that Meta is aiming to establish its own platform, including by entering the AI search engine market.

At the time of writing, Meta had not responded to requests for comment from various media outlets.