Talking to Meta’s AI? Your chats will soon decide which ads you get

Meta is ramping up its artificial intelligence efforts, and as a part of its AI infrastructure, the Mark Zuckerberg-led tech giant has made available the option of its AI chatbot to users. The Meta AI chatbot is available all across Meta Platforms, including Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.

Now, Meta will use your conversations with its AI chatbot to get even better at selling you things by personalising your feed.

Meta Platforms said on October 1 it would begin using people's interactions with its generative AI tools to personalise what they see as well as their advertisement feeds.

The company will implement this update across its apps such as Facebook and Instagram starting on December 16.

Meta users will be notified about the change in policy on October 7, the company said.

The tech giant already uses information from what users post and click on, as well as who they interact with, to display targeted ads on platforms like Facebook and Instagram.

However, in conversations with the Meta AI chatbots, users may directly tell the company about what they specifically want to buy or the trip they will soon be packing for.

No option to opt out

Users will not have an option to opt out of seeing ads, the social media giant said, though the update applies only to those who use Meta AI.

Meta said users' interactions with its AI features, whether by voice or text, would be added to existing data such as likes and follows to shape recommendations for content and ads, including Reels and ads. For example, a user talking about hiking with Meta AI could later be shown hiking groups, friends’ trail updates or ads for boots.

"People's interactions simply are going to be another piece of the input that will inform the personalization of feeds and ads," said Christy Harris, privacy policy manager at Meta. "We're still in the process of building the first offerings that will make use of this data."

When people have conversations with Meta AI about more sensitive topics such as their religious views, sexual orientation, political views, health, racial or ethnic origin, Meta will not use those topics to show them ads, it said.

The rollout will begin in most regions on December 16 and expand over time, excluding the UK, the European Union and South Korea.

(With Reuters inputs)