Meta announced on Wednesday that users’ chats and interactions with its AI service, Meta AI, will soon be used to deliver more personalized ads. According to a report by CNN, users will start seeing notifications about this change next week, with the policy taking effect on December 16.
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Meta already targets users with ads based on what they post, click on, and their social network connections, which helps predict potential purchases. Through AI chat interactions, users may directly reveal their shopping interests, travel plans, or problems they seek solutions for, providing Meta with richer data.
The company will also use Meta AI data to determine the types of content users see. For example, if a user discusses hiking, Meta can identify this interest and serve related content.
However, this change increases pressure on Meta to avoid using personal or sensitive conversations, such as those about relationships—often shared with AI chatbots as if speaking to a therapist—for targeted content recommendations that could be harmful.
Meta explained in its blog: “Like other personalized services, we tailor ads and content based on your activity to ensure your experience evolves with your interests. Interactions with AI will soon become an additional signal to enhance user experience.”
The company claims its AI service has 1 billion monthly active users, though engagement frequency is unclear. Users can chat via Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, or the standalone Meta AI app.
Meta already generates substantial ad revenue, earning $46.5 billion from ads in the last quarter, up over 21% year-on-year. Meta shares have risen roughly 20% since the start of the year, giving the company a market value of $1.8 trillion as of October 1.
Some Silicon Valley experts predict consumers will increasingly shop via AI chatbots instead of searching on Google or browsing social media. In this context, OpenAI recently launched a feature enabling users to purchase products directly through ChatGPT, though its model is not ad-based.
Meta users can still use the Ad Preferences tool to add or remove topics for ad targeting. Similar controls exist for content shown on Facebook and Instagram.
The company also stated it will not target ads based on chats about religion, sexual orientation, politics, health, race, or philosophical or union affiliations, in line with its general policy. Ads on these topics are allowed but without direct targeting based on user interest.
After the launch of the Meta AI app, some users reported embarrassment upon realizing personal conversations about relationships or finances were publicly shared. Meta later added a pop-up warning before publishing chats in the “Discover” section, now replaced by Vibes, an AI-generated endless video platform.
With the new ad targeting changes taking effect at the end of the year, users may see ads for dogs on Instagram if they watched numerous AI-generated dog videos on Vibes.
(Asharq Al-Awsat)
