Meta’s AI Advantage is "In the Water"

ChatGPT or any chat bots have the benefit of novelty factor to capture our imagination in the last three years. However, one challenge with the chat bot paradigm is it requires a level of intentionality from the users that may not be as pervasive and persistent than most power users imagine. Ben Evans recently pointed out this tension that it appears ChatGPT’s “usage is a mile wide but an inch deep”.

One of the reasons I suspect the impact of AI on Meta’s Family of Apps and incumbent digital advertising in general is somewhat still underappreciated is it does not have the novelty factor of chat bots. On the surface, it feels we are still using the same apps, scrolling the same feed, and clicking on ads once in a while. The core user experience feels remarkably similar and there is a sense of continuity without sensing AI being front and center of these apps. Yet, AI is essentially in the “water” for these apps. Because it’s in the “water”, users don’t even need to change their age old habits. They can continue to do what they have been doing, and digital advertising companies, especially Meta can deeply embed and integrate AI in a way that can make their already state-of-the-art advertising infrastructure from a few years ago appear increasingly “primitive”.

Behind the paywall, I will discuss a particular paper that I came across recently to elaborate how Meta’s advertising infrastructure is being radically reshaped by AI.

In addition to “Daily Dose” (yes, DAILY) like this, MBI Deep Dives publishes one Deep Dive on a publicly listed company every month. You can find all the 66 Deep Dives here.