Meta has a clear channel to leverage generative AI in profitable ways in their ads. At some point in the probably not so far future, everybody's going to have custom ads generated for them that are optimized to get that particular person to click/buy/etc. Those will convert well, and the better ads convert, the more businesses will be willing to pay Meta for a given ad.
This compares favorably with Google, which is as likely to cannibalize its search business with generative AI as to create new value for itself.
Thus, for all the gen AI stuff like this, for which Meta doesn't have an obvious path to commercialization, it makes sense to release it publicly. They get plenty of benefits from this - for one, engineers (and smart people generally) who are working on really complex problems like to be able to talk about the work they're doing. If you're picking between jobs at Meta and Google, the fact that Meta's going to release your stuff publicly might well be the deciding factor.
I would also argue that there's an economic incentive. Right now, being seen as an AI company is definitely a positive for your multiple. I think the movement of Meta's stock price over the last 12 months relative to their change in profit and revenue is certainly driven in part by the perception that they're a leader in AI.
This compares favorably with Google, which is as likely to cannibalize its search business with generative AI as to create new value for itself.
Thus, for all the gen AI stuff like this, for which Meta doesn't have an obvious path to commercialization, it makes sense to release it publicly. They get plenty of benefits from this - for one, engineers (and smart people generally) who are working on really complex problems like to be able to talk about the work they're doing. If you're picking between jobs at Meta and Google, the fact that Meta's going to release your stuff publicly might well be the deciding factor.
I would also argue that there's an economic incentive. Right now, being seen as an AI company is definitely a positive for your multiple. I think the movement of Meta's stock price over the last 12 months relative to their change in profit and revenue is certainly driven in part by the perception that they're a leader in AI.