Meta will begin using your AI chats to target you with ads
When Meta rolls out a new product, the company usually waits until that product has a billion users before turning on the ads. For Meta AI, that time has arrived, so get ready for those ads.
Meta announced in May that Meta AI had crossed that threshold, saying that more than 1 billion people are using the product every month.
Yesterday, the company announced that it will begin using your conversations and messages with Meta AI to personalize your recommendations and the ads you see.
Meta currently monetizes your activity on Meta platforms by using your interactions (likes, shares, attention) to tailor your exposure to its massive advertising machine. So if you asked Meta AI about travel tips for your upcoming vacation, you might now see more content and ads related to that place.
But what if you’re asking Meta AI how to deal with your depression or other sensitive topics? The company says it doesn’t plan on using those discussions as grist for the advertising mill: “When people have conversations with Meta AI about topics such as their religious views, sexual orientation, political views, health, racial or ethnic origin, philosophical beliefs, or trade union membership, as always, we don’t use those topics to show them ads.”
Still, Meta has a spotty record when it comes to protecting sensitive personal information from leaking into its ad platform. In the past, Meta’s pixel-tracking technology has been found to pick up sensitive information regarding mental health crises, financial information, and medical information.
The Takeaway
The company said users will start to see notifications about the changes this month, which will go into effect on December 16, 2025. If anything, it’ll be an important moment for the AI industry as a whole, and investors in lots of different companies, public and private, will likely be closely eyeing what the company reports if and how AI has juiced its advertising business. If the playbook is as profitable as Meta hopes it is, lots of other players are bound to copy it, after all.
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