Meta is reportedly aiming to reduce its dependence on Google and Microsoft after taking a hit from Apple’s privacy features three years ago. Information reported on Monday that Meta Inc. is developing a search engine for chatbots. The company recently partnered with Reuters to help AI answer news-related questions.
Meta has reportedly been working on indexing the web for at least eight months. The company’s goal is said to be to integrate the index into Meta AI and provide chatbots with an alternative to Google Search and Microsoft Bing. Meta unveiled its web crawler technology this summer, but did not say it was building a search backend, only that it was for “training AI models or improving products.” Senior engineering manager Xueyuan Su is reportedly leading the search engine project.
According to The Information, this move is a direct result of Apple’s reliance on other Big Tech companies, such as App Tracking Transparency (ATT), which has “challenged” the company in the past. Mehta previously said more than $10 billion in advertising revenue would be lost due to iPhone privacy features introduced in 2021. (The company was so concerned about this feature that it was sued for circumventing the rules.)
CEO Mark Zuckerberg says he wants Meta to be as autonomous as possible so that it doesn’t repeat itself if Google or Microsoft cut off access to web search. It is unclear whether Meta is currently paying either company for its access.
Engadget has reached out to Meta for comment. We will update this story if we receive a response.
The company’s AI investments seem to be paying off. Zuckerberg posted on Threads in August that MetaAI has more than 185 million weekly and 400 million monthly active users. “We’re growing rapidly, but we haven’t yet expanded to the UK, Brazil, or the EU,” the Facebook founder wrote. Earlier this month, OpenAI announced that ChatGPT has 250 million weekly users.
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