Meta AI can imagine anything…except operating in the EU

2 weeks ago 12

(Image credit: Meta)

Meta AI is traveling internationally, starting with Brazil, Bolivia, Guatemala, Paraguay, the Philippines, and the UK this week. Over the next few weeks, the tech giant’s AI assistant will eventually debut in 21 countries across Africa, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East. Notable in its absence is any continental European country as Meta wrangles with the European Union (EU) over regulatory demands.

Meta hasn’t set a date for releasing Meta AI in the countries beyond the initial list. Still, fairly soon, people in Algeria, Egypt, Indonesia, Iraq, Jordan, Libya, Malaysia, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Thailand, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, Vietnam, and Yemen will also be able to ask Meta AI their questions. They'll also be able to create images and even put their face in the results using the “Imagine Me” feature for creating a digital avatar based on uploaded photos that can then be incorporated into an image created from a text prompt. Those images can then be edited by follow-up prompts.

The wider geographic access to Meta AI will include linguistic expansion. That means the new international users won’t be limited to communicating with the AI assistant in English. The first new language on the list is Tagalog, which is spoken by many in the Philippines. Arabic, Indonesian, Thai, and Vietnamese are next on Meta AI’s roadmap, appropriate for the countries gaining access to the AI assistant, which are also places with many people who regularly use Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and other Meta platforms. Those same people will presumably form a core of Meta AI early adopters.

“Following this gradual rollout, Meta AI will be available in 43 countries and a dozen languages. That means more people than ever will be able to use Meta AI to dive deep on topics that spark their interest, get helpful how-tos and find inspiration for art projects, home decor, OOTDs and more,” Meta boasted in a blog post. “In fact, Meta AI is already on track to become the most used AI assistant in the world by the end of the year with almost 500 million active users monthly.”

Meta’s products are also popular in the EU, but the lack of EU expansion plans isn’t surprising. Meta has already said it won’t bring new AI tools, especially image- and video-related ones because it is leery of violating new regulations and compliance demands that it feels are unfair.

The biggest issue raised by European lawmakers surrounds ethical data use and privacy. The recently adopted rules are designed to slow the launch of AI technology that doesn’t address those potential problems. Meta AI’s current form might transgress some of the new rules. In response, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has suggested that these regulations limit innovation and hurt citizens. For now, Meta has chosen to skip the EU in favor of other markets for its AI products.

Meta AI is also expanding in another direction this week, debuting on the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses in more regions, which are now available in the UK and Australia. Though Australians will have the full range of features, the UK is only getting voice support for now. The wearable tech integration with Meta AI is part of the company's push to embed its AI in everything it produces. Meta didn't say why the UK isn't getting the augmented reality overlay or image recognition features immediately. Presumably, there are technical issues, regulatory hurdles, or both that need to be overcome.

Eric Hal Schwartz is a freelance writer for TechRadar with more than 15 years of experience covering the intersection of the world and technology. For the last five years, he served as head writer for Voicebot.ai and was on the leading edge of reporting on generative AI and large language models. He's since become an expert on the products of generative AI models, such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Anthropic’s Claude, Google Gemini, and every other synthetic media tool. His experience runs the gamut of media, including print, digital, broadcast, and live events. Now, he's continuing to tell the stories people want and need to hear about the rapidly evolving AI space and its impact on their lives. Eric is based in New York City.

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