Meta AI Launches in Europe with New Features

Meta AI makes its long-anticipated debut in Europe, introducing users to an AI-driven virtual assistant. This rollout comes almost a year after regulatory challenges prompted the company to halt its initial plans, predominantly due to privacy and compliance issues with the European Union’s strict data protection regulations.

Delayed But Now Rolling Out

Meta AI is now accessible to individuals in 41 European nations and 21 overseas territories, including Iceland, Norway, Serbia, and Switzerland. This marks the most extensive launch of Meta AI to date. The AI assistant will be integrated across Meta’s social platforms—WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger—enabling users to engage with the assistant directly through these applications.

However, the European version of Meta AI comes with considerable limitations compared to the Indian version. It will function solely as a text-based assistant, lacking the ability to generate or modify images through AI. The primary functions will involve assisting with brainstorming sessions, helping plan trips, providing answers to user inquiries sourced from the web, and aiding users in discovering content within Instagram feeds.

Meta has acknowledged the regulatory obstacles that have delayed this launch. A representative for Meta informed The Verge that the launch followed nearly a year of extensive dialogue with various European regulators, stating, “For now, we are only offering a text-only model in the region which wasn’t trained on first-party data from users in the EU.” The company reassured its users of its ongoing efforts to collaborate with regulators to broaden AI functionalities in the future.

Privacy Pushback and Regulatory Challenges

First unveiled in the United States in 2023, Meta AI has since expanded to over 40 countries, including India. However, its entry into Europe was delayed due to concerns from EU privacy regulators, especially in relation to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The Ireland Data Protection Commission previously directed Meta to pause the training of its AI models on publicly accessible posts from EU users on Facebook and Instagram, citing possible privacy infringements. Consequently, the Meta AI assistant releasing in Europe has not utilized any data from EU users.

Despite these limitations, Meta is determined to enhance its AI capabilities within the region. The company expressed, “Looking ahead, it’s our ambition to make AI products available to more people around the world,” asserting its goal to achieve “parity with the US and expand our offering over time.”

What’s Next for Meta AI in Europe?

While Meta AI launches in Europe with a restricted functionality set, the company has indicated its intentions to roll out further AI-driven capabilities over time. In the US, Meta AI already boasts features such as AI-generated images, enhanced reasoning skills, and integration with Ray-Ban smart glasses. These innovations are gradually being introduced in international markets, and Meta is likely to strive to provide comparable advancements to European users.

As Meta AI becomes widely available across the continent, this step signifies a crucial element in the firm’s AI strategy, balancing innovation with the changing regulatory framework. Meta highlighted its enthusiasm for how Meta AI will influence social experiences in Europe while reiterating its commitment to increasing the accessibility of AI-driven tools while addressing privacy considerations.

For the time being, European users can explore the chat-based features of Meta AI and anticipate the introduction of more AI-enhanced functionalities in the foreseeable future.