Meta AI vs. ChatGPT: AI chatbots compared

ChatGPT and Meta AI are both powerful AI (artificial intelligence) models. While similar on the surface, they differ significantly in areas such as service integration and the types of responses they can process. Which you use in day-to-day use will come down to whichever model is more accessible. Here’s a closer look at the models, and their strengths and weaknesses.

What is Meta AI?

Developed by the creators of Facebook, Meta AI is described as the world’s first open-source, multi-modal large-language model. Let’s break down those terms.

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A large language model or LLM is a type of artificial intelligence that can process natural language input and generate a desired output (usually in natural language as well). Our interactions with computers and other types of AI models are based on a predetermined syntax that only computer engineers fully understand.

Meta AI is also multi-modal, i.e., it can understand different types of input such as images and audio, text data, video, and more. It can also analyse this data and generate an output.

Next, there’s the fact that Meta AI is open-source, which means that the code is available for anyone to audit and modify as they see fit. Meta AI is based on an AI model called LLaMA 3 and anyone, including you, can download this model for free and run it on their laptops and PCs.

Running it locally — on your device — requires a powerful computer with a lot of RAM, but there are versions of LLaMA that can run on slower or simpler computers.

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Lastly, the most important feature of Meta AI is that it’s free to use and integrated into all of Meta’s services. This includes Facebook, Messenger, WhatsApp, and Instagram. You can access Meta AI at any time in your chats by typing ‘@Meta AI’ and inserting your query.

Meta AI can act as an image generator, give you advice, search the web for relevant information, and more. It’s a powerful and useful tool that is readily accessible to anyone with a Meta app installed, which is most people with an internet.

Differences between ChatGPT and Meta AI

Primarily, the differences come down to use-case. ChatGPT is entirely built as a general purpose, conversational AI with a heavy focus on natural language interactions. ChatGPT by itself cannot generate images, for example.

Meta AI, on the other hand, can be thought of as a machine learning platform for developing everything from computer vision applications to speech recognition, and more. The conversational or LLM aspect of it is only one part of the whole.

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Lastly, while ChatGPT is available as a standalone app, has limited integration with iOS, and can be accessed from the web, it’s not entirely free to use and is integrated as a service into third-party apps and services like customer support bots and more. Meta AI is completely free and deeply integrated into all of Meta’s apps.

Based on our experience, we’d say that at this time ChatGPT is more useful for the average user while Meta AI is great for free image generation and shorter queries.