Meta to Leverage AI Interactions for Personalized Ads and Content

Meta plans to sell targeted ads based on data in your AI chats | TechCrunch

Meta announced on Wednesday that data collected from user interactions with its AI products will soon be used to sell targeted ads across its social media platforms. The company will update its privacy policy by December 16 to reflect the change, and will notify users in the coming days. The new policy applies globally, except for users in South Korea, the United Kingdom, and the European Union, where privacy laws prevent this type of data collection. Meta's core business has long relied on building detailed profiles of Facebook and Instagram users to sell hyper-targeted ads. The company offers advertisers a way to reach specific demographics and user groups. Now, Meta will also use data from conversations with its AI chatbot to build out those profiles, giving it another powerful signal to target its ads. The social media giant already has lots of information about its users, but Meta AI has created a rich new stream of information. The company says more than a billion people chat with Meta AI every month, and it's common for users to hold long, detailed conversations with the AI chatbot. So far, Meta has largely given away its AI products for free, but now the company can improve its valuable ad products based on the data it collects. If a user chats with Meta AI about hiking, for example, the company may show ads for hiking gear. However, Meta spokesperson Emil Vazquez tells TechCrunch that the privacy update is broader than just Meta AI, and applies to the company's other AI offerings. That means Meta may use data from AI features in its Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses -- including voice recordings, pictures, and videos analyzed with AI -- to further target its ad products. Meta may also use data from its new AI-video feed, Vibes, and its AI image generation product, Imagine. Conversations with Meta AI will only influence ads on Facebook and Instagram if a user is logged into the same account across products. There is no way to opt out, according to Meta. The privacy changes are another reminder that free products from Big Tech companies often come with strings attached. Many tech companies already use AI interactions to train their models. Meta, for instance, trains on voice recordings, photos, and videos analyzed through Meta AI on its smart glasses. Now it will also feed that data into its ad machine. In a briefing with reporters, Meta privacy policy manager Christy Harris said the company is still in the process of building out systems that will use AI interactions to improve its ad products. However, the company says user conversations with AI around sensitive topics -- including religious views, sexual orientation, political views, health, racial or ethnic origin, philosophical beliefs, or trade union membership -- will not be used to show them ads. Tech companies are starting to test out ways to monetize AI products, most of which are free today. On Monday, OpenAI unveiled a way to purchase products in ChatGPT, where the company will take a cut of transactions completed in the app. Earlier this year, Google revealed plans for how it would introduce ads into its AI-powered search product, called AI Mode. Meta says the company has "no plans imminently" to put ads in its AI products, though CEO Mark Zuckerberg has suggested they may be coming in the future.

Meta Will Use Your AI Interactions to Personalize Ads and Content

Alex Valdes from Bellevue, Washington has been pumping content into the Internet river for quite a while, including stints at MSNBC.com, MSN, Bing, MoneyTalksNews, Tipico and more. He admits to being somewhat fascinated by the Cambridge coffee webcam back in the Roaring '90s. Meta is fully invested in the AI business model and is adding something new. Starting Dec. 16, Meta will begin personalizing ads and content recommendations based on how Facebook and Instagram consumers interact with the company's AI. Those recommendations could include things like Facebook posts and Instagram reels and, of course, ads based on your perceived interests. Meta owns both Facebook and Instagram. Meta said it will start notifying customers of the update on Oct. 7. According to the company, the update will occur in the US and "most regions. " The company said that interactions with its AI features -- either by voice or text exchange -- "will help us improve the recommendations we provide for people across our platforms so they're more likely to see content they're actually interested in -- and less of the content they're not." People still will have control over the content and ads they see, via Meta's Ads Preferences and feed controls. How you interact with AI is your choice, either with voice or text, and you'll see an indicator light that the microphone is in use. Consumers must give permission for the mic to be used. Meta said that personalizing ads and content based on AI interactions is just an extension of what the company has been doing for years. "Your interactions with content on Facebook and Instagram have long shaped what appears in your feed," Meta said. "Just like other personalized services, we tailor the ads and content you see based on your activity, ensuring that your experience evolves as your interests change. Many people expect their interactions to make what they see more relevant." Let's imagine that someone asks Meta's AI questions about snowboarding. After that, they might start seeing ads or Instagram reels or Facebook posts related to snowboarding. Meta said that AI interactions will only be used to personalize ads and content across platforms that you have added to its Accounts Center. So, if WhatsApp (another Meta product) is not in your Accounts Center, you will not see AI-personalized ads or content there. When it comes to AI, there are always questions about privacy, security and data misuse. Earlier this summer, Meta changed its AI chatbots after a Reuters report found that the bots could engage in "sensual" chats with minors. Actor and director Joseph Gordon-Levitt called Meta's AI chatbot dangerous for kids earlier this week. A Meta spokesperson told CNET that the company has safeguards for the new personalization feature. "We have a robust internal Privacy Review process that helps ensure we are using data at Meta responsibly for our products, including generative AI," the spokesperson said. "We work to identify potential privacy risks that involve the collection, use or sharing of personal information and develop ways to reduce those risks to people's privacy."

Meta Will Soon Tap Into Your AI Chats to Show Targeted Ads, and You Can't Opt Out

(Credit: Sebastian Kahnert/picture alliance via Getty Images) Don't miss out on our latest stories. Add PCMag as a preferred source on Google. Meta has long used your activity across its apps to serve up targeted ads, but it will reportedly soon tap another trove of user data: the conversations you have with its AI-powered products. If a user chats with Meta AI about family vacations, for example, they may be shown Reels related to vacations on Facebook, says Meta's privacy and data policy manager, Christy Harris. The change takes effect Dec. 16. Users will start receiving notifications about it on Oct. 7, though there's no way to opt out of this personalization beyond deleting your account or not using Meta AI, Meta tells CNBC. Your voice interactions with Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses will also be used to influence your feed. This comes months after Meta AI hit 1 billion active monthly users and CEO Mark Zuckerberg hinted at the possibility of showing ads within the chatbot. Many users assume Meta already uses AI chats to sell targeted ads, but "we want to be super transparent about it and provide a heads up before we actually begin using this data in a new way," Harris says. The only exception is WhatsApp, where Meta will not use Meta AI conversations for targeted ads or recommendations unless people link their WhatsApp account to other Meta apps.

Meta will listen into AI conversations to personalize ads

Religion, race, health and other dicey topics supposedly exempt Meta, having committed hundreds of billions to AI infrastructure and talent, says it will start using people's conversations and interactions with its AI services to create personalized content and advertising. This applies to Meta AI, the company's web-based chat interface, and apps that integrate Meta AI, such as Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger. Meta intends to begin using people's text exchanges and voice conversations with its AI service to generate personalized posts, reels, and other attention lures starting on December 16, 2025. "For example, if you chat with Meta AI about hiking, we may learn that you're interested in hiking - just as we would if you posted a reel about hiking or liked a hiking-related Page," the company explained in its announcement. "As a result, you might start seeing recommendations for hiking groups, posts from friends about trails, or ads for hiking boots." A notification campaign about the change begins October 7, 2025. There's no opt-out, but Meta has spared those who live in the EU, the UK, and South Korea for the time being. The social networking giant and metaverse money-burner will let users make some adjustments to its slop-gavage loop with its Ads Preferences and feed customization controls. Meta insists it won't personalize ads based on conversations that touch on religion, sexual orientation, politics, health, race, ethnicity, philosophical belief, or trade union membership. That list of untouchable topics suggests canny Meta users could stymie the personalization plan by prefixing every interaction with a suitably sensitive term - for example, start every interaction with "Pray tell..." or "Oh, Lord, Meta really thought this was a good idea?" Known as Facebook until brand damage from incessant privacy scandals inspired a name change in 2021, Meta was notionally focused on the metaverse - an ill-defined term for immersive digital experiences that may or may not involve goggles. Having spent something like $60 billion on its Reality Labs group without much to show for it (apart from the privacy-invading Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses), Meta lately has taken to talking up AI. CEO Mark Zuckerberg last month told President Trump that Meta plans to invest $600 billion on AI investment through 2028 - and surely that will happen because Zuckerberg said it, even if other massive AI spending projects like Stargate's promised $500 billion AI infrastructure investments don't quite add up. Meta's interest in AI, however, is really about ads - using AI to encourage exposure to and engagement with ads, some of which may be generated by AI. The company has already said AI has helped boost engagement with ads posted to its platforms. Execs also see AI as making it easier to advertisers to create and manage campaigns. As noted by the UK's Open Rights Group, 98 percent of Meta's $165 billion of revenue in 2024 came from advertising, resulting in net income of $62.4 billion. Iesha White, director of intelligence for marketing watchdog Check My Ads, told The Register in an email that several AI companies like Perplexity and OpenAI have integrated advertising into their AI products. "But this is different - Meta's core business is monetizing ad space across its owned and operated sites and apps, in addition to ad placements on external publisher partnerships via its Facebook Audience Network product," said White. "By harvesting data from its AI chats across WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook, Meta gains yet another closed-loop data source, meaning Meta could reduce transparency of the targeting inputs across its advertising products, in the name of privacy. "It also provides an opportunity for Meta to further shape and obfuscate its attribution models using its own source of truth, with brands unable to independently audit a campaign's true effectiveness." Meta coincidentally is fighting a $7 billion class action lawsuit [PDF] brought by advertisers who claim that Meta fraudulently represented the potential reach of its ads by citing user accounts rather than actual people - a charge Meta disputes. ®

Meta to use AI chats to personalize content and ads from December

Oct 1 (Reuters) - Meta Platforms (META.O), opens new tab said on Wednesday it would begin using people's interactions with its generative AI tools to personalize content and advertising across its apps such as Facebook and Instagram starting on December 16. Users will be notified of the changes from October 7 and they will not have an option to opt out, the social media giant said, though the update applies only to those who use Meta AI. Meta said users' interactions with its AI features, whether by voice or text, would be added to existing data such as likes and follows to shape recommendations for content and ads, including Reels and ads. For example, a user talking about hiking with Meta AI could later be shown hiking groups, friends' trail updates or ads for boots. "People's interactions simply are going to be another piece of the input that will inform the personalization of feeds and ads," said Christy Harris, privacy policy manager at Meta. "We're still in the process of building the first offerings that will make use of this data." When people have conversations with Meta AI about more sensitive topics such as their religious views, sexual orientation, political views, health, racial or ethnic origin, Meta will not use those topics to show them ads, it said. The rollout will begin in most regions on December 16 and expand over time, excluding the UK, the European Union and South Korea. Meta AI now has 1 billion monthly active users across the company's family of apps. CEO Mark Zuckerberg said at the company's annual shareholder meeting this year that the "focus for this year is deepening the experience and making Meta AI the leading personal AI with an emphasis on personalization, voice conversations and entertainment." Meta launched its first consumer-ready smart glasses with a built-in display at its annual Connect conference last month. The company's use of AI interactions for ads comes as other tech giants, including Google (GOOGL.O), opens new tab and Amazon (AMZN.O), opens new tab, have begun monetizing AI tools, often through cloud-based services. But few have used AI chat interactions to personalize content and advertising across multiple platforms at the scale Meta is attempting. Reporting by Echo Wang in New York; Editing by Jamie Freed Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab * Suggested Topics: * Artificial Intelligence Echo Wang Thomson Reuters Echo Wang is a correspondent at Reuters covering U.S. equity capital markets, and the intersection of Chinese business in the U.S, breaking news from U.S. crackdown on TikTok and Grindr, to restrictions Chinese companies face in listing in New York. She was the Reuters' Reporter of the Year in 2020.

Meta to mine AI interactions to help target advertising

Meta will use conversations people have with its chatbots to personalise advertising and content across its platforms, in a sign of how tech companies plan to make money from artificial intelligence. The owner of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp on Wednesday said it would use the content of chats with its Meta AI to create advertising recommendations across its suite of apps. "People will already expect that their Meta AI interactions are being used for these personalisation purposes," said Christy Harris, privacy and data policy manager at Meta. Harris said the move was a "natural progression of our personalisation efforts" and that the company wanted to be "super transparent . . . before we actually begin using this data in a new way". Big Tech groups and AI labs have invested billions of dollars in developing and running popular chatbots, but have only recently started to indicate how they will monetise the technology. Meta said more than 1bn people use its AI features each month, such as the Meta AI chatbot and "Imagine me" image generation. Founder Mark Zuckerberg has dedicated billions of dollars to building data centres and hiring top talent to support his AI ambitions. Creating AI tools with increased memory of conversations can make interactions more helpful and personalised for users, but also provide valuable insights for targeted advertising or ecommerce. Meta used the example of a user chatting with its AI about hiking; the person might then start seeing recommendations for hiking groups, posts from friends about trails or ads for hiking boots. This approach is similar to how user interactions on social media platforms such as Instagram can be used to inform advertising. Rival AI developers have also recently made moves to commercialise their products. OpenAI on Monday added a checkout function to ChatGPT to allow users to buy products within the app after asking the chatbot for recommendations, as first reported by the Financial Times in July. It has also weighed showing advertising to ChatGPT's 700mn users. Google has introduced advertising into its AI Overviews search result summaries. Its AI mode uses data from other Google services, such as search or maps, to tailor its responses. Meta will collect data from conversations with its AI services across voice, text and images -- as well as through its devices, such as its Ray-Ban glasses -- and on Instagram and WhatsApp. In WhatsApp, users can search chats and Meta AI simultaneously at the top of the app. They can also start a one-to-one conversation with the chatbot or bring it into a message thread with another person. Meta said only prompts directed to the chatbot, and the bot's response, would be collected, which it said would not interfere with the encryption that keeps WhatsApp messages private. The changes in data usage will take effect on December 16, except in the UK, Europe and South Korea. Meta said it hoped to add these regions over time "following our usual regulatory updates". The Big Tech group has previously delayed releasing features in these locations due to local laws, such as the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Users will not have an opt-out option, but they could refrain from using Meta AI if they did not wish for conversations to be used to personalise ads and recommendations, Harris said.

Meta greenlights Facebook, Instagram ads based on your AI chats

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg holds a smartphone as he makes a keynote speech at the Meta Connect annual event at the company's headquarters in Menlo Park, California, on Sept. 25, 2024. Meta will soon show ads and other content to users based on their interactions with the company's digital assistant and related products powered by generative artificial intelligence. The social media giant announced the update to its recommendation system on Wednesday, and said it will go into effect on Dec. 16. Users will receive notifications of the change starting on Oct. 7. The move underscores how Meta is attempting to better tie its billion-dollar investments into generative AI with its core online advertising business. Meta spent the summer on a major AI hiring and spending blitz, and said in July during its second-quarter earnings report that the AI initiatives will "result in a 2026 year-over-year expense growth rate that is above the 2025 expense growth." The company currently provides generative AI abilities to users via its Meta AI digital assistant, which is bundled across its apps like Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger. Meta AI is also available as a stand-alone app and website. Users can interact with Meta AI like they do with OpenAI's ChatGPT, asking it to provide directions or generate images based on prompts. The Mark Zuckerberg-helmed company also said that the Meta AI digital assistant now has more than 1 billion active monthly users, although that figure is not specific to the Meta AI stand-alone app. Zuckerberg said in May that Meta AI reached 1 billion monthly active users, and added that eventually "there will be opportunities to either insert paid recommendations" or offer "a subscription service so that people can pay to use more compute." Meta privacy and data policy manager Christy Harris said during a media briefing that people already assumed that the Facebook parent was incorporating generative AI interactions with ad targeting and content recommendation.

Meta will soon use AI chats for ad targeting because of course it will

Meta will start to gather data for the purpose of ad targeting. The company says this data will be used to "personalize the content and ads" that people see across apps like Facebook and Instagram. The "feature" goes into effect on December 16 and Meta will start sending out in-product notifications and emails about the move on October 7. The company says this change is coming to "most regions" throughout the world, but the launch won't impact the EU and South Korea at first. Meta gives an example of a user talking with an AI chatbot about hiking and then seeing ads about, you guessed it, hiking. "As a result, you might start seeing recommendations for hiking groups, posts from friends about trails or ads for hiking boots," it wrote in a blog post. "People's interactions simply are going to be another piece of the input that will inform the personalization of feeds and ads," Christy Harris, privacy policy manager at Meta, . This is the same type of ad targeting that has followed us around the internet for ages, but one-on-one conversations have typically been excluded from this sort of thing. This is just another reminder that . There will be no way to opt out of this, according to . If you talk to a Meta chatbot, it'll be scraping. The company notes that the chatbots will not scrape data pertaining to "topics such as their religious views, sexual orientation, political views, health, racial or ethnic origin, philosophical beliefs or trade union membership." I'd recommend not discussing those things with an AI chatbot no matter what Meta says.

Meta Will Use AI Chat History to Serve You Even More Targeted Ads

Meta will start using your AI chatbot conversations to tune up your social media feeds with more hyper-targeted ads and posts. The tech giant will begin notifying users about this update on October 7 via notifications and emails, saying "Learn how Meta will use your info in new ways to personalize your experiences." The new initiative goes into effect later this year on December 16, and there will be no way to opt out. "We will soon use your interactions with AI at Meta to personalize the content and ads you see, including things like posts and reels," Meta shared in a press release. That means any time you interact with one of Meta's many AI features, the information you give in that chat will be used to serve you hyper-personalized ads and posts. For example, if you go on WhatsApp and ask for Meta AI's help about a hiking trip, your Facebook feed will be filled with recommendations to join hiking groups, you will suddenly see more Instagram posts from your friends about hiking trails, or get ads for hiking boots on Threads. No topic is off limits for ad personalization except for discussions on religious views, sexual orientation, political views, health, racial or ethnic origin, philosophical beliefs, or trade union membership, Meta shared in the press release. But the company's track record on AI guardrails is not exactly squeaky clean: Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri opened an investigation into Meta in August over a leaked report that revealed the company's AI chatbots were allowed to engage in "sensual" conversations with children. The company's chatbots were also under fire recently for impersonating some celebrities without permission. Meta is going all in on AI with eye-popping multi-billion dollar investments, and the ad business is one way they have started to see it pay off. In Meta's latest earnings report, ad revenue came in a couple of billion dollars ahead of Wall Street expectations, sending the stock soaring. CEO Mark Zuckerberg attributed that hike to the deployment of artificial intelligence in the ad system and promised investors that ad revenue was bound to increase thanks to more AI in the ads business. Google, a major competitor to Meta in the ads business, also uses AI to maximize ad revenue, but that effort does not yet include using Gemini chat history for personalized ads. Meta is already one of the biggest kingpins in the world of targeted ads. Every decision you make on Meta's social media platforms factors into what ads and other content they serve you up. Although this is legal in the United States, it has been met with ire elsewhere. The European Union, thanks to strict digital privacy laws aimed at protecting user data, has been a regulatory headache to Meta's ads business in Europe, with countless fines and lawsuits. In a high-profile case last year, an EU court ruled in favor of Austrian activist Max Schrems after he claimed that Meta used his sexual orientation (which he had never revealed on the internet, save for on a panel that had nothing to do with Meta's platforms) to serve him personalized ads. The new update won't initially be available in the European Union. The United Kingdom and South Korea will also be barred for now as Meta takes a staggered approach with the rollout. Both countries also have strict data privacy laws similar to the EU's, and Meta just recently settled a landmark privacy lawsuit in the UK over targeted ads.

Meta will use your chats with AI to sell hyper-targeted ads - 9to5Mac

Meta just announced a big change coming to its privacy policy in a couple months. It's going to start using data from your chats with AI products to sell ads hyper-targeted to you. And there's no way to opt out. Not long ago, Amazon shared that it had plans to monetize Alexa+ by advertising to users during chats. Now, Meta has announced its own plans to do something similar. In a new post on Meta's newsroom, the company announced: More than 1 billion people use Meta AI every month. We're continuing to improve the way our AI products feel relevant to you, understand your goals, and help you accomplish tasks more efficiently. We're also using Meta AI, and our other AI features, to improve your experience on all of our platforms. We will soon use your interactions with AI at Meta to personalize the content and ads you see, including things like posts and reels. We'll start notifying people about this update next week via notifications and emails, several weeks before it goes into effect on December 16, 2025. You can read the full details here. Essentially, if you use any of Meta's AI-related products or features -- including chatbots -- your data from those interactions will be used to "personalize" the ads you're shown. That means Meta will start using almost anything you share in a chat with AI to sell ads hyper-targeted to you. There are some stated exceptions, however: When people have conversations with Meta AI about topics such as their religious views, sexual orientation, political views, health, racial or ethnic origin, philosophical beliefs, or trade union membership, as always, we don't use those topics to show them ads. If you're concerned about privacy, the only way to opt out is to stop using Meta's AI products. Depending on how you feel about your privacy, you might like being able to get more relevant ads across Meta's platforms. But I suspect that for a lot of users, this move is something they'll be unaware of and won't appreciate. Especially since using AI on one platform, such as WhatsApp or Instagram, will result in data sharing across all other Meta platforms when your accounts are connected. It's also worth considering how this impacts Meta's smart glasses products, since they're so heavily AI-focused. How do you feel about your interactions with AI being used to sell targeted ads? Let us know in the comments.

Your Meta AI Chats Will Soon Influence the Ads You See

If you've been using Meta AI in Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, or Messenger, you might want to stop. Starting later this year, Meta plans to use your generative AI conversations to personalize content and tailor ad recommendations. Text exchanges and voice conversations with Meta AI will be used to personalize posts, reels, ads, and more. Meta says that incorporating AI conversations will help the company improve its recommendations so that people are "more likely to see content they're actually interested in." Meta likens using AI conversations to tailoring recommendations based on the content that people interact with on Facebook and Instagram. If you converse with AI about hiking, for example, Meta will show ads for hiking boots, as it would if you liked a hiking-related page. There is no way to opt out of Meta's AI-based ad targeting, but Meta claims that users can adjust the content and ads they're seeing with Ad Preferences and feed controls. With Ad Preferences, you can limit ads from specific topics or block advertisers one by one, but you can't choose not to let Meta access your AI conversations. Interactions with Meta AI are used across Meta products that have been added to the same Accounts Center. With no opt-out feature, the only way to prevent Meta from using your AI conversations for content and ad targeting purposes is not to use the AI in the first place. Meta says that sensitive topics like sexual orientation, political views, health, racial or ethnic origin, philosophical beliefs, or trade union membership are not used for ad targeting purposes. Conversations that take place before December 16 won't be used. Meta plans to start using AI for personalization on December 16, 2025, and customers will receive in-product notifications and emails before it happens. Data will be used for personalization in most countries around the world, though not in the EU, UK, and South Korea for the time being.

Meta to use AI chats to personalize ads, content

Meta will begin using people's conversations with its artificial intelligence chatbot to tailor the ads and content they see on Facebook and Instagram, the social media giant announced Wednesday. The company said it would start notifying users about the change on Oct. 7, with the new system taking effect on Dec. 16, 2025. Under the update, interactions with Meta AI -- whether through voice or text -- will be utilized much like how the platform currently tracks likes, shares and posts to determine user interests and what ads will have the highest potential impact. The result could mean that users who discuss outdoor activities with the chatbot start seeing recommendations for hiking groups, posts about trails from friends, or advertisements for hiking equipment. More than 1 billion people use Meta AI, the company's generative artificial intelligence assistant, across its family of apps including Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. "The goal of the announcement is to be super transparent and make sure that users understand what's coming with plenty of lead time ahead of the change going into effect," Christy Harris, Meta's privacy and data policy manager, told reporters. Meta said the changes would roll out "in most regions" initially, with Europe and the United Kingdom -- where regulation on data and privacy is stricter -- getting the updates at a later date. While users cannot opt out of the data collection when using Meta AI, the company said they had control over the level of personalization of ads and content on their feeds. It also said that conversations about sensitive topics -- including religious views, sexual orientation, political views and health -- would not be used for ad targeting. AI interactions on WhatsApp accounts linked to users' overall Meta accounts would also be used for personalization.

Meta will start mining AI chatbot conversations to target users with ads and content - SiliconANGLE

Meta will start mining AI chatbot conversations to target users with ads and content Meta Platforms Inc. announced today that, in an effort to improve its targeted advertising across all its platforms, it will start analyzing users' conversations with AI chatbots. Users will receive a notification about the change on Oct. 7, while Meta's privacy policy will be updated on Dec. 16. The new policy will apply to most users around the world, although due to privacy laws, it won't include the European Union, the U.K., and South Korea. The information gleaned from conversations with Meta's bots will also serve to make posts, reels, and Facebook groups that appear on users' accounts more relatable. The company already personalizes ads and content, but this is the first time conversations have been mined to target users. "Whether it's a voice chat or a text exchange with our AI features, this update will help us improve the recommendations we provide for people across our platforms so they're more likely to see content they're actually interested in -- and less of the content they're not," the company explained in a blog post today. Meta gives the example of talking to the chatbot about hiking, perhaps asking for trail information or where to stay overnight. That user will subsequently start seeing ads for, say, hiking boots or excursions to the countryside, while their Facebook feed might fill with Pages on hiking groups or exercise tips. The personalization will not be related to political views, health, religious views, philosophical beliefs, sexual orientation, racial or ethnic origin, or union memberships, said Meta. "We have existing policies around the information that people might consider sensitive, and those will continue to apply," said the company's privacy head, Christy Harris, at a press briefing. Users will still be able to adjust their ad settings, but opting out of having their conversations with AI mined will not be an option. If users have linked their accounts on Facebook, Instagram, or WhatsApp, the information scraped from the AI chats on each can then be used for personalization on the others. The data collection will not include chats with humans, something Meta has long been accused of, whether through messaging or audio. The company has continually denied this. Earlier today, after the announcement about the new personalization effort, Instagram head Adam Mosseri again reminded users, "I swear, we do not listen to your microphone," which he said wouldn't just drain your phone's battery but would be a "gross violation of privacy."

Meta Is Using Your AI Chatbot Conversations for the Ad Algorithm on Facebook and Instagram

Your conversations with Meta AI will now shape the ads you see on your Facebook newsfeed. Meta announced on Wednesday that its recommendation system will soon display ads and suggested content to users based on their interactions with Meta AI, the company's digital AI assistant with more than one billion monthly active users across Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. Ads will soon be crafted based on conversations with Meta AI via text and audio. Meta will also use voice recordings, photos, and videos acquired through footage from Meta's Ray-Ban smart glasses to create ads. The ads will display on Facebook and Instagram feeds, but will not surface on WhatsApp unless users link their accounts to Instagram or Facebook. Related: Meta Just Unveiled New Smart Glasses With an Embedded Display -- and an iPhone 17 Price Point. Here's How They Work. The new AI-based ads start on December 16 globally, except for Meta users in South Korea, the United Kingdom and the European Union, where laws prohibit companies from this level of data collection. Meta will notify global users of the change earlier, beginning October 7. The tech giant noted that users cannot opt out -- if they want to stop AI-chat-based targeted ads, they have to stop interacting with Meta AI. Meta explained how the new AI content will be shown in feeds across social media. For example, if a user talks to Meta AI about where to take a vacation, they will receive ads and suggested content on their Facebook and Instagram feeds based on that conversation. They could receive a suggested Instagram Reel about where to travel and ads on their newsfeeds for hotels. Meta's Privacy and Data Policy Manager Christy Harris told CNBC during a media briefing that the ad initiative was an expected next step in Meta's AI strategy -- and that people already thought Meta was using AI conversations to tailor ad experiences. "We want to be super transparent about it and provide a heads up before we actually begin using this data in a new way, even if people already thought that we were doing this," Harris told the outlet. Related: AI Contractors at Meta Could See Users' Personal Data, Including Selfies Meta isn't alone in sharing AI data for other purposes -- your ChatGPT conversations aren't private either. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman shared on an episode of the "This Past Weekend" podcast in July that, though a growing number of users are relying on ChatGPT as a "therapist" and "life coach," conversations with the chatbot lack legal protections. "If you talk to ChatGPT about your most sensitive stuff and there's a lawsuit, we could be required to produce that," Altman said on the podcast. Meta's AI-based ad initiative is part of the company's ongoing effort to use AI and user data (detailed descriptions of users, their likes, browsing histories, and more) to help sell ads. The company's revenue almost entirely consists of advertising dollars, with ads accounting for over 97% of Meta's revenue in 2023 and 2024. Related: Mark Zuckerberg Does a Better Job Than His Rivals at Explaining AI -- And It's Helping Meta Outperform Alphabet, Amazon and Microsoft For its most recent quarterly earnings report, released in July, Meta reported revenue of $47.52 billion, a 22% year-over-year increase. Advertising accounted for $46.56 billion of that total, or about 98%. The double-digit revenue growth aligns with Meta's growing user base -- Meta's products have billions of users. For example, as of last week, Meta disclosed that Instagram now has three billion monthly active users, up from 1.21 billion users in 2021.

Meta to use AI chats to personalise content and ads from December - The Economic Times

Users will be notified of the changes from October 7 and they will not have an option to opt out, the social media giant said, though the update applies only to those who use Meta AI.Meta Platforms said on Wednesday it would begin using people's interactions with its generative AI tools to personalize content and advertising across its apps such as Facebook and Instagram starting on December 16. Users will be notified of the changes from October 7 and they will not have an option to opt out, the social media giant said, though the update applies only to those who use Meta AI. Meta said users' interactions with its AI features, whether by voice or text, would be added to existing data such as likes and follows to shape recommendations for content and ads, including Reels and ads. For example, a user talking about hiking with Meta AI could later be shown hiking groups, friends' trail updates or ads for boots. "People's interactions simply are going to be another piece of the input that will inform the personalization of feeds and ads," said Christy Harris, privacy policy manager at Meta. "We're still in the process of building the first offerings that will make use of this data." When people have conversations with Meta AI about more sensitive topics such as their religious views, sexual orientation, political views, health, racial or ethnic origin, Meta will not use those topics to show them ads, it said. The rollout will begin in most regions on December 16 and expand over time, excluding the UK, the European Union and South Korea. Meta AI now has 1 billion monthly active users across the company's family of apps. CEO Mark Zuckerberg said at the company's annual shareholder meeting this year that the "focus for this year is deepening the experience and making Meta AI the leading personal AI with an emphasis on personalization, voice conversations and entertainment." Meta launched its first consumer-ready smart glasses with a built-in display at its annual Connect conference last month. The company's use of AI interactions for ads comes as other tech giants, including Google and Amazon, have begun monetizing AI tools, often through cloud-based services. But few have used AI chat interactions to personalize content and advertising across multiple platforms at the scale Meta is attempting.

Meta Will Use AI Interactions to Generate Personalized Ads | PYMNTS.com

The change is set to go into effect Dec. 16, the tech giant announced Wednesday (Oct. 1), with Meta set to begin informing people about the update via notifications and emails next week. "Your interactions with content on Facebook and Instagram have long shaped what appears in your feed," the company wrote on its blog. "Just like other personalized services, we tailor the ads and content you see based on your activity, ensuring that your experience evolves as your interests change. Many people expect their interactions to make what they see more relevant. Soon, interactions with AIs will be another signal we use to improve people's experience." That means that voice chats or text exchanges with the company's AI features will now let Meta offer what it says are better recommendations for content and ads. The company uses the example of a conversation about hiking leading to "recommendations for hiking groups, posts from friends about trails, or ads for hiking boots." Meta notes that users will be able to adjust the content and ads they see with tools like Ads Preferences and other feed controls. In addition, the company won't generate ads based on conversations with the AI about topics like religious or political views, sexual orientation, racial or ethnic origin, or trade union membership. The announcement follows a June report by The Wall Street Journal that Meta was working on a plan to use AI to automate ad creation. In other Meta news, PYMNTS wrote recently about the pitfalls and potential rewards associated with the company's AI-powered smart glasses. "Meta's approach comes with significant risks," PYMNTS wrote. "Technical glitches during Connect presentations raised doubts about the reliability of the device. Privacy concerns remain equally pressing. Civil liberties groups warn that camera-equipped eyewear could act as wearable surveillance, and while Meta has added visible recording lights and stricter disclosure policies, skepticism lingers." Meta, that report added, needs to show the devices can function consistently while dealing with regulatory scrutiny over how data is collected and used. All the same, there's a clear strategic opportunity. If consumers shift even small daily tasks to the glasses, Meta could lessen its reliances on rival phone platforms and weave its Llama-based AI more deeply into everyday life. "Adoption at the $799 price point is uncertain, but Meta's lower-cost models may broaden appeal," the report continued. "Much will depend on day-to-day reliability, evolving privacy rules and Apple's next steps with lighter or more affordable devices."