Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg emphasises the responsible use of AI, at the Connect event in Menlo Park, California. Reuters
Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg emphasises the responsible use of AI, at the Connect event in Menlo Park, California. Reuters
Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg emphasises the responsible use of AI, at the Connect event in Menlo Park, California. Reuters
Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg emphasises the responsible use of AI, at the Connect event in Menlo Park, California. Reuters

Meta Connect 2023: Eight takeaways from AI event in Menlo Park


Alkesh Sharma
  • English
  • Arabic

Facebook parent company Meta launched a host of generative artificial intelligence features during its Connect conference at its Menlo Park campus in California on Wednesday.

Generative AI is disrupting industries across the board. A type of AI system that can generate text, images or other media, it uses neural networks to identify patterns and structures in existing data to generate new and original content.

It could add as much as $4.4 trillion annually to the global economy and will transform productivity across sectors with continued investment in the technology, a recent report by consultancy McKinsey found.

The National looks at Meta’s eight key initiatives in the AI realm announced on Wednesday.

AI stickers

Meta has introduced a new feature in its chat and story platforms – AI stickers. This functionality enables users to craft personalised stickers effortlessly.

Using the power of Meta's Llama 2 technology and the foundational image generation model, Emu, this AI tool can swiftly transform text prompts into a diverse array of stickers.

Over the next month, this innovative feature will be introduced to select English-speaking users across WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram and Facebook Stories, the company said.

Revolutionising image editing with AI

In the coming weeks, Meta users will witness a transformative shift in image editing capabilities. Meta is set to introduce two novel features, Restyle and Backdrop, on Instagram.

These features harness the prowess of Emu technology. With the Restyle feature, users gain the ability to apply various visual styles to their images, breathing new life into their photographs.

Meet Meta AI: your personal assistant

Meta AI is an innovative addition to the Meta ecosystem, designed to interact with users in real-time in a human-like manner.

Already available on WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram, it is soon to make its debut on Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses and Quest 3 headsets.

This AI assistant is driven by a custom model incorporating elements from Llama 2 and Meta's latest advancements in large language models.

In text-based chats, Meta AI has access to real-time information through its partnership with Bing, offering a handy tool for generating images. Meta AI is still in beta phase and is limited to the US market only.

Join the conversation with 28 more AIs

In addition to Meta AI, users can engage with 28 other AI entities on WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram.

Meta has collaborated with cultural figures and influencers to bring these AIs to life, each having their own profiles on Instagram and Facebook for users to explore.

Introducing AI Studio

Meta has launched AI Studio, a versatile platform that empowers the creation of AI entities.

The company plans to make this platform accessible to people outside of Meta, catering to coders and non-coders.

Developers will soon have the opportunity to craft third-party AIs for Meta's messaging services, starting with Messenger and later expanding to WhatsApp.

Enhancing businesses and creators

Businesses, small and large, will be able to create AIs that align with their brand values and enhance customer service experiences.

Meta is launching this feature in alpha (one of the testing phases) and plans to scale it further in the coming year.

Creators will also have the chance to develop AIs that extend their virtual presence across Meta's apps, provided they are approved and directly controlled by the creators themselves.

Glimpse of the future

Meta is also working on a sandbox, set to be released in the coming year, which will allow anyone to experiment with creating their own AI.

As the universe of AIs continues to expand and evolve, Meta is dedicated to bringing this sandbox to the metaverse, enabling users to build AIs with an even greater level of realism and interconnectedness.

Privacy matters

Meta said it has included important privacy protection in its new generative AI features to guard people’s information and help them to understand how the features work.

“Our generative AI features go through a rigorous internal privacy review that helps ensure we are using people’s data responsibly, while building better experiences for connection and expression.”

The company is launching a generative AI privacy guide and other transparency resources for people to understand how Meta builds its AI models, and what controls and data privacy rights they have.

Mark Zuckerberg, Meta's founder and chief executive, said new AI experiences come with a new set of challenges.

That is why Meta is introducing its new AIs slowly and building protection around them, he said.

Key facilities
  • Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
  • Premier League-standard football pitch
  • 400m Olympic running track
  • NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
  • 600-seat auditorium
  • Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
  • An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
  • Specialist robotics and science laboratories
  • AR and VR-enabled learning centres
  • Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Who are the Sacklers?

The Sackler family is a transatlantic dynasty that owns Purdue Pharma, which manufactures and markets OxyContin, one of the drugs at the centre of America's opioids crisis. The family is well known for their generous philanthropy towards the world's top cultural institutions, including Guggenheim Museum, the National Portrait Gallery, Tate in Britain, Yale University and the Serpentine Gallery, to name a few. Two branches of the family control Purdue Pharma.

Isaac Sackler and Sophie Greenberg were Jewish immigrants who arrived in New York before the First World War. They had three sons. The first, Arthur, died before OxyContin was invented. The second, Mortimer, who died aged 93 in 2010, was a former chief executive of Purdue Pharma. The third, Raymond, died aged 97 in 2017 and was also a former chief executive of Purdue Pharma. 

It was Arthur, a psychiatrist and pharmaceutical marketeer, who started the family business dynasty. He and his brothers bought a small company called Purdue Frederick; among their first products were laxatives and prescription earwax remover.

Arthur's branch of the family has not been involved in Purdue for many years and his daughter, Elizabeth, has spoken out against it, saying the company's role in America's drugs crisis is "morally abhorrent".

The lawsuits that were brought by the attorneys general of New York and Massachussetts named eight Sacklers. This includes Kathe, Mortimer, Richard, Jonathan and Ilene Sackler Lefcourt, who are all the children of either Mortimer or Raymond. Then there's Theresa Sackler, who is Mortimer senior's widow; Beverly, Raymond's widow; and David Sackler, Raymond's grandson.

Members of the Sackler family are rarely seen in public.

The years Ramadan fell in May

1987

1954

1921

1888

Jetour T1 specs

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Suggested picnic spots

Abu Dhabi
Umm Al Emarat Park
Yas Gateway Park
Delma Park
Al Bateen beach
Saadiyaat beach
The Corniche
Zayed Sports City
 
Dubai
Kite Beach
Zabeel Park
Al Nahda Pond Park
Mushrif Park
Safa Park
Al Mamzar Beach Park
Al Qudrah Lakes 

The specs: 2018 BMW R nineT Scrambler

Price, base / as tested Dh57,000

Engine 1,170cc air/oil-cooled flat twin four-stroke engine

Transmission Six-speed gearbox

Power 110hp) @ 7,750rpm

Torque 116Nm @ 6,000rpm

Fuel economy, combined 5.3L / 100km

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The five pillars of Islam

1. Fasting

2. Prayer

3. Hajj

4. Shahada

5. Zakat 

Conflict, drought, famine

Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.

Band Aid

Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.

Specs
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BMW M5 specs

Engine: 4.4-litre twin-turbo V-8 petrol enging with additional electric motor

Power: 727hp

Torque: 1,000Nm

Transmission: 8-speed auto

Fuel consumption: 10.6L/100km

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Price: From Dh650,000

The specs: 2017 GMC Sierra 1500 Denali

Price, base / as tested Dh207,846 / Dh220,000

Engine 6.2L V8

Transmission Eight-speed automatic

Power 420hp @ 5,600rpm

Torque 624Nm @ 4,100rpm

Fuel economy, combined 13.5L / 100km

The specs
  • Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
  • Power: 640hp
  • Torque: 760nm
  • On sale: 2026
  • Price: Not announced yet

Engine: 3.5-litre V6

Transmission: eight-speed automatic

Power: 290hp

Torque: 340Nm

Price: Dh155,800

On sale: now

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Test series fixtures

(All matches start at 2pm UAE)

1st Test Lord's, London from Thursday to Monday

2nd Test Nottingham from July 14-18

3rd Test The Oval, London from July 27-31

4th Test Manchester from August 4-8

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Sole survivors
  • Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
  • George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
  • Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
  • Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
Global state-owned investor ranking by size

1.

United States

2.

China

3.

UAE

4.

Japan

5

Norway

6.

Canada

7.

Singapore

8.

Australia

9.

Saudi Arabia

10.

South Korea

Sam Smith

Where: du Arena, Abu Dhabi

When: Saturday November 24

Rating: 4/5

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Updated: September 28, 2023, 9:05 AM`