Meta's AI Spending Shows Early Gains in Ads, New Agent Plans

According to CNBC, Meta Platforms' heavy artificial intelligence spending is showing early results in advertising and in plans for a consumer AI agent called Hatch. Bernstein said AI is helping Meta capture a larger share of digital ad dollars, with advertising revenue up 27% year over year through its latest second quarter reported on July 30, while Google's network ad revenue fell 1% over the same period. Bank of America said Hatch could eventually create a new revenue stream outside ads, and The Information reported Monday that the product could include a customizable dashboard for fitness tracking and travel planning, run inside Instagram and WhatsApp, and browse websites on a user's behalf. Meta is also considering a subscription tier, including a premium option priced as much as $199.99 per month. The company has said it is working on a cloud business, and it recently agreed to pay up to $18 billion to settle youth social media addiction claims with attorneys general from across the United States.