Meta Unveils Various Ways Facebook Utilizes AI on Its Platform

Meta has revealed that artificial intelligence (AI) will be one of their focuses on Facebook, along with creators and messaging services.

One of the use cases of AI has already been utilized on Facebook, which is to help users find content recommendations that are more relevant to them.

Pieter Lydian, the Country Managing Director of Meta in Indonesia, has given insights into the utilization of AI on Meta's platforms, which is not limited to just that.

"If we look at the construction of AI, it's actually a tremendous amount of machine learning behind it," said Pieter during a media briefing in Jakarta on Friday (3/24/2023).

The utilization of AI to help with discovery or search on Facebook is done to strengthen the current platform.

"Are there other use cases? Definitely. Are there other use cases that we can announce soon? We can't share them yet," added Pieter.

Nevertheless, according to Pieter, considering that AI technology is machine learning, the utilization of artificial intelligence will continue to evolve in the future.

"But yes, the basis of AI technology is machine learning, and behind it is a tremendous computing power, so these use cases will continue to evolve," he added.

Aside from helping with content discovery on Facebook, Meta also revealed that AI has actually been used in activities behind the scenes on the social media platform.

"AI has been helping with content recommendations on Facebook and Instagram for a long time," said Putri Silalahi, Head of Communications, Meta in Indonesia in the same way.

"But why it becomes a priority now is actually more about the changes that have occurred on Facebook itself," said Putri.

According to her, now that content and users are already on Facebook, the current job is how to present content that is suitable for the platform's needs with AI.

Revie Sylviana, Director of Creator Partnerships for Meta in Southeast Asia and Emerging Markets, added that artificial intelligence has also been utilized by Meta, such as for the use of filters or augmented reality (AR).

"Then when creators use content, there are automatic subtitles, which is actually based on AI, and when using avatar stickers, sticker recommendations also use AI technology," said Revie.

Moreover, AI has also been used to help moderate content on the Facebook platform.

Meta itself revealed that up to this point, Facebook has had up to two billion daily active users worldwide.

In its report, in Indonesia alone, in the past month, the number of groups on Facebook has grown by 40 percent, and there are 148 million people connected through 10.5 million active Facebook groups in the past month.

During a media briefing in Jakarta on Friday (3/24/2023), Meta also announced that Facebook currently has three priorities for users in Indonesia.

These three priorities are artificial intelligence (AI), creators, and messaging services.

"If we look at Facebook, Facebook is from the feed side, then there are groups, don't forget there is Facebook Gaming. So Facebook has multiple services that are used by users who may have different demographics," said Pieter.

"Just because we're not there, doesn't mean that Facebook isn't growing," he added.

This is what makes Meta adapt to the changes that occur on Facebook. According to them, the growth that occurs shows a change in Facebook user preferences over the past few years.

"Not only for interacting with friends and family, but also with creators and communities that are specific to their interests," added Pieter.

Regarding AI, Meta sees that there is currently a shift in Facebook users who previously had static connections, moving towards a lifestyle that is more closely related to the world of young people.

Therefore, Meta stated that Facebook will continue to invest its resources to develop artificial intelligence innovations.