Meta AI Finally Rolling Out in Europe, to Offer Limited Features at First

Meta AI is finally rolling out in European countries. The company’s artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot will be available to users in the European Union (EU) nearly 1.5 years after it was first launched. This comes nearly eight months after the Menlo Park-based tech giant stated that the rollout of its AI services in the region will be delayed due to requests from the EU’s Data Protection Authority (DPA). The tech giant is now introducing Meta AI to all 41 countries in Europe, although certain features have currently been disabled for the region.

In a newsroom post, the social media giant announced the rollout and highlighted that it has finally been able to circumvent the EU’s complex regulatory system, and is now expanding Meta AI in the region. Notably, this will be the company’s largest Meta AI expansion with 41 EU nations and 21 overseas territories scheduled to get access to the chatbot.

Meta AI will be available as a chatbot across Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger in Europe. The company said it is adding support for six European languages, but did not mention which ones. However certain features, that are available elsewhere, will not be accessible from the region.

All the text-based features of the AI-powered chatbot will function normally in European countries. This includes text queries, real-time web search, generating content, and having conversations with Meta AI. They will also be able to summon the chatbot in group chats and have it answer queries. Users will also be able to surface content such as videos and Reels by providing keywords to the chatbot.

However, they will not be able to generate or edit images using the tool or have it answer queries about an image. Voice-based features are also not accessible in the EU region. Meta AI’s responses might also lack personalisation and knowledge of the cultural nuances of the different European countries as the company claimed that the AI model powering the chatbot is not trained on EU user data.

“We will continue to work collaboratively with regulators so that people in Europe have access to and are properly served by Meta’s AI innovations that are already available to the rest of the world, “ Meta spokesperson Ellie Heatrick told The Verge.