Meta Brings Standalone Text-to-Image Generation Tool to Web; AI Enhancements to Instagram, Facebook

Meta unveiled a host of new enhancements for its AI experiences across Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp on Wednesday. The company’s virtual assistant, Meta AI, which was launched in September, will now give more detailed and accurate responses to queries. The Facebook parent is also expanding its text-to-image generation tool, Imagine, as a standalone AI experience on Web, outside of chats.

In its Newsroom post announcing new AI updates, Meta detailed a standalone Imagine tool for image generation. Initially only embedded within Meta’s messaging platforms, Imagine can now be accessed on the Web for free. “Today, we’re expanding access to imagine outside of chats, making it available in the US to start at imagine.meta.com,” Meta said in the blog. The image creation tool runs on the company’s image foundation model, Emu. The tool will initially be available in the US.

Imagine with Meta is free to use on the Web
Photo Credit: Meta

Meta is also bringing new updates and capabilities to core AI experiences on its platforms. The Meta AI virtual assistant is now more helpful, the company claims, generating more detailed responses on mobile and more accurate summaries of search results. “We’ve even made it so you’re more likely to get a helpful response to a wider range of requests,” the blog said. A Meta AI interaction can be triggered by starting a new message and selecting “Create an AI chat” on Meta’s messaging platforms, or by typing “@MetaAI” in a group chat followed by the query.

Outside of chats, Meta AI’s large language model will bring new experiences on Facebook and Instagram like options for AI-generated post comment suggestions, community chat topic suggestions in groups and more.

Imagine with Meta, the text-to-image generation tool, is also getting a new ‘reimagine’ feature on Messenger and Instagram that lets your friends riff on a Meta AI-generated image shared by you in messages and create entirely new images. Additionally, the company is also rolling out Instagram Reels in Meta AI chats, wherein the AI assistant will recommend and share reels for relevant video requests. AI-powered improvements are coming to Facebook, too. Meta is working on AI features that would draft birthday greetings, edit feed posts, write up a dating profile, or set up a new group.

Meta will also roll out invisible watermarking to its new Imagine with Meta AI image generation tool to boost AI transparency and curb misleading AI-generated content in the coming weeks. “The invisible watermark is applied with a deep learning model. While it’s imperceptible to the human eye, the invisible watermark can be detected with a corresponding model,” the blog said. The watermark will withstand image manipulation like cropping, editing or screenshotting.