Meta AI, Facebook’s generative artificial intelligence, is making its European Union debut in France, Italy, Ireland and Spain. Meta Ray-Ban glasses are the first to benefit from it.
In a press release published on November 18, 2024, Meta announces the availability of Meta AI, its suite of functions related to generative artificial intelligence, in the European Union.
The parent company of Facebook, until now opposed to any launch in the EU, allows users in France, Italy, Ireland and Spain to test its language models in preview, thanks to Meta Ray-Ban glasses . Meta AI does not yet seem ready for Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, as in the United States, but should soon arrive.
Meta glasses can answer questions in French
In its press release, Meta indicates that Meta AI, its own competitor to ChatGPT or Google Gemini, now speaks French, Italian and Spanish, in addition to English.
The “French” option is available in the application settings, after updating the glasses to version 10.0, even if Meta indicates that certain functions remain unavailable in the European Union. Among them, the possibility of asking the glasses to describe what the user sees thanks to the integrated camera. Meta AI, in France, is just a chatbot capable of answering easy or complicated questions. It is not yet a multimodal artificial intelligence.
According to our first tests, French support in Meta AI is not yet deployed.
This first step of Meta AI in the EU is nevertheless good news, since Mark Zuckerberg’s company opens the door for the first time to the end of its ban from Europe. Logic would dictate that Meta AI will soon arrive in the company’s social networks, then open up to the analysis of images or videos, as in the United States. “Since our launch in September 2023, we have worked diligently to ensure Ray-Ban Meta eyewear complies with Europe’s complex regulatory system”indicates Meta in its press release.
After Meta AI, soon Apple Intelligence in Europe
The opening of Meta AI to the European Union is good news for users in the countries concerned, including France, who feared in recent months that large American companies would leave them behind in response to regulations such as the GDPR or the DMA. Despite threats of a blockade, both Meta and Apple ultimately decided to open up to the EU. Apple Intelligence will arrive on iPhone in April 2025, while Meta AI opens up to France through glasses.
For now, bilinguals have every interest in continuing to use their glasses in English, in order to benefit from the image analysis functions (and they will no longer need a VPN to cheat, thanks to the opening of Meta AI to Europe). Soon, we can hope that the French Meta AI provides the same level of services as the American version.
Source: www.numerama.com
