Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has announced significant advancements in its artificial intelligence projects and strong financial results for the third quarter of 2024. CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed that Meta AI, the company’s generative AI tool, has surpassed 500 million monthly users and is on track to become the most-used AI assistant globally. Additionally, Meta is training its next-generation Llama 4 AI models on a cluster of over 100,000 Nvidia H100 GPUs, which Zuckerberg claims is larger than any other reported AI training infrastructure.
Despite slower digital advertising growth, Meta reported record third-quarter revenue of $40.59 billion, a 19% increase compared to the previous year. The company’s investments in AI and augmented reality have been substantial, with the Reality Labs unit, responsible for the development of the Quest headset and Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, reporting operating losses of $4.4 billion in the three-month period. Meta has raised its capital expenditure forecast for 2024 to a range of $38-40 billion to support its AI ambitions.
While Meta’s strong financial performance and AI advancements have impressed investors, the company’s rapid pace of spending on AI infrastructure has surprised even Zuckerberg himself. The CEO acknowledged that Meta has been able to build out its data centers, servers, and chips for AI projects more quickly than anticipated at the beginning of the year. Despite concerns about the short-term impact on investors, Zuckerberg remains optimistic about the potential of AI to revolutionize Meta’s products and services, emphasizing the importance of continued investment in the field.
Sources: Engadget, Wired, Wall Street Journal, CNBC