Meta launches Meta Enterprise Platform to sell AI tools to businesses

In short: Meta has launched a new business unit, Meta Enterprise Platform, to sell its AI tools and models to enterprise customers.

What happened

Meta, the company behind Facebook and Instagram, said it is starting a new unit focused on selling AI products to other companies. Meta says the goal is to help businesses use AI and to create a new source of revenue beyond advertising.

The new unit will bring together products such as Muse, Meta’s personal assistant app, plus coding tools and access to Meta’s advanced AI models. An AI model is the part that learns patterns from lots of data, like a very large autocomplete system that can write, summarize, or answer questions.

Meta hired Chirantan “CJ” Desai, currently the CEO of database company MongoDB, to lead the new enterprise group. He will report directly to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

Meta is spending heavily on AI and the computers needed to run it. The company said it could spend up to $145 billion in capital expenditure this year, much of it on data centers, which are large buildings filled with powerful computers.

The announcement came after Muse gained traction with consumers. The Financial Times reported that Muse has quickly become the most downloaded app on both Apple and Android app stores in the US since its early September launch. After the enterprise announcement, Meta shares fell 4%, and MongoDB shares dropped nearly 20% following news of Desai’s departure.

Why it matters

Big tech companies are spending huge amounts on AI and now need to show how it will pay off. If Meta successfully sells AI tools to businesses, it could change how companies buy AI services and could eventually influence the features and prices people see in everyday apps.

Source: Financial Times