Meta AI Surges to 1 Billion Monthly Active Users, Zuckerberg Eyes Monetization
MENLO PARK, Calif. – Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced on May 28, 2025, that Meta AI, the company’s artificial intelligence assistant, has reached a milestone of 1 billion monthly active users across its family of apps, including Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger. The achievement, shared during Meta’s annual shareholder meeting, follows the April 2025 launch of a standalone Meta AI app, which has driven rapid adoption. Zuckerberg called it a “key pillar” of Meta’s future, emphasizing plans to deepen engagement through personalization, voice interactions, and entertainment features.
Meta AI, first introduced in September 2023, has grown swiftly, reaching 400 million monthly users by August 2024 and 500 million by October, with India as its largest market due to WhatsApp’s 500 million-plus user base there. The chatbot, powered by Meta’s open-source Llama models, is integrated across Meta’s platforms and available in 43 countries, with recent expansions adding support for languages like Hindi and Hinglish. Zuckerberg noted that the 1 billion user mark, while significant, is “not at scale” for Meta, given its 3.35 billion daily app users, hinting at further growth potential in markets like the EU, UK, and Brazil, where rollouts are pending.
Looking ahead, Zuckerberg outlined monetization strategies, including potential paid recommendations or a subscription model for enhanced compute power, similar to OpenAI’s ChatGPT. This aligns with earlier reports of Meta testing a subscription service, positioning it as a rival to premium AI platforms. The company’s $60–65 billion 2025 capital expenditure, including a massive Louisiana data center for Llama 4, underscores its AI ambitions, despite challenges like a lawsuit alleging Llama was trained on pirated materials.
This milestone ties to your earlier “frightened crowd” quote, with the billion-user surge reflecting a rush to embrace AI, akin to the chaos of Gaza’s Sahaba Market or Portofino’s tourist throngs. The “steps” of Meta’s platforms witness this digital stampede, mirroring the scrutiny in Karen Read’s trial or the buzz around Sinners’ box office run. If you’d like a deeper dive into Meta AI’s features, its impact on India’s market, or connections to other prompts, let me know!