Meta said it is making improvements to its cross-platform chatbot MetaAI, including the ability for the bot to "remember" conversation details. In a post on Meta's official blog, the company said users can now tell MetaAI to remember certain things about them when chatting with it on Facebook, Messenger and WhatsApp on iOS and Android in the U.S. and Canada, such as how they like to travel and learn new languages.
Meta says the memory feature is similar to that of OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini, allowing MetaAI to remember “important details” based on context. For example, if a user mentioned being a vegetarian in a previous chat and asked MetaAI for breakfast ideas, the chatbot would consistently consider this dietary preference.
Meta said that MetaAI will not permanently remember the content of the chat, and users can delete its memory at any time.
In another MetaAI upgrade that may be more controversial, Meta says the chatbot will now use account information from the Meta app to provide personalized recommendations. This information could include a user's home location from their Facebook profile, or recently viewed Instagram videos.
Here's what Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a post on Monday:
"MetaAI will start giving you answers based on the preferences and information you share," he wrote. "For example, it helps me come up with creative bedtime stories for my daughters, so if I ask it for a new story, it remembers that they love mermaids."
Personalized recommendations will first be available on Facebook, Messenger and Instagram in the United States and Canada, and users will not be able to opt out.
Meta is working hard to promote MetaAI’s newfound information-grabbing capabilities. But given how little trust people have in Meta and especially Facebook's data, we can't help but wonder how these updates will be received.