Meta has recently revealed intentions to utilize proprietary artificial intelligence (AI) to create ads for companies, with a launch of offerings or tools said to be coming by the end of the year.

The move comes in the next step of its embrace of the tech, following the launch of a dedicated team in late February that was exploring use cases like an AI-powered chat for WhatsApp and Messenger, as well as various AI filters for Instagram.

News of its latest shift towards advertisement tools was first shared during an interview in Tokyo with Meta’s Chief Technology Officer Andrew Bosworth via NikkeiAsia.

Bosworth shared “we’ve been investing in artificial intelligence for over a decade, and have one of the leading research institutes in the world,” adding that “we certainly have a large research organization, hundreds of people.”

Despite OpenAI’s ChatGPT already becoming the most popular public-facing chatbot on the market, the CTO stated that “we feel very confident that … we are at the very forefront,”  expressing that “quite a few of the techniques that are in large language model development were pioneered [by] our teams.”

Additionally, Meta Chief Product Officer Chris Cox shared that he expects the commercialization of Meta’s AI to take place this year and that the recently created generative AI team is hard at work.

Based on conversations shared, it would seem that the first use case or wave of new offerings would be targeted towards the ad sector of platforms like Facebook and Instagram — which is a substantial revenue stream for Meta.

Bosworth believes that the tech could improve the effectiveness of ads, aid advertisers in best strategies, create a better variety of content for varying target demographics, and “can save a lot of time and money.”

While Meta appears to be excited about the prospects of commercializing AI, entire countries around the world are voicing their fears surrounding the rapid advancement of the tech.

Following the complete ban of ChatGPT in Italy, countries like Canada, Germany, France, and Sweden have shared their own fears and concerns.

“A.I. technology and its effects on privacy is a priority for my office,” Philippe Dufresne, the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, said in a recent statement, adding “we need to keep up with—and stay ahead of—fast-moving technological advances, and that is one of my key focus areas as Commissioner.”

Dufresne’s comment is primarily in response to what appeared to be a minor user data leak from OpenAI that saw 1.2 percent of ChatGPT users affected.

We believe the number of users whose data was actually revealed to someone else is extremely low and we have contacted those who might be impacted. We take this very seriously and are sharing details of our investigation and plan here. 2/2 https://t.co/JwjfbcHr3g

— OpenAI (@OpenAI) March 24, 2023

While some like Italy have outright banned the tech for the time being, others like Germany have expressed that “we do not need a ban on AI applications, but rather ways to ensure values such as democracy and transparency,” according to a spokesperson for the German Ministry of the Interior, as shared with German news outlet Handelsblatt.

Considering a ban on the technology is somewhat of an impossible task, Germany’s approach is perhaps the most ideal, with a call for regulatory guidelines and caution beginning to emerge in the U.S. as well.

In related news, Elon Musk and a thousand others call for a pause on ‘giant AI experiments.’