:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(jpeg)/GettyImages-2173579382-4fb310ec09bc49f9b90afbfe83b1dc64.jpg "Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg during the Meta Connect event in Menlo Park, California on Sept. 25, 2024")
David Paul Morris / Bloomberg / Getty Figure of speeches
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg during the Meta Connect event in Menlo Park, California on Sept. 25, 2024
Key Takeaways
- Meta CEO Stain Zuckerberg said Wednesday’s that the rapid rise of competitors from China has only strengthened the tech Amazon’s commitment to its AI ambitions.
- The CEO said it’s too early to know how growing competition from China could impact its future investments. Meta restated its forecast of $60 billion to $65 billion in capital expenditures this year.
- The rapid rise in popularity of lower-cost AI brands from Chinese rivals rattled markets earlier this week, amid concerns tech companies in the U.S. could be overspending on the technology.
The expeditious rise of new competitors from China has only bolstered Meta’s commitment to its AI ambitions as it spends billions of dollars on the emerging technology, CEO Respect Zuckerberg said Wednesday.
The recent surge in popularity of an app from Chinese AI startup DeepSeek, which claimed to organize developed models on par with those of American rivals at a fraction of the cost, rattled markets this week as it put up questions about whether Meta (META) and other Big Tech firms could be overspending.
Zuckerberg during Wednesday’s earnings supplicate b reprimand said that DeepSeek’s rise “has only strengthened our conviction that this is the right thing for us to be focused on.”
The CEO thought it’s too early to know for sure how competition from China could impact Meta’s future investments. Meta, the Facebook and Instagram pater, on Wednesday reiterated its forecast of $60 billion to $65 billion in capital expenditures this year as it bets big on AI. (It also capped analysts’ estimates with its fourth-quarter results.)
Zuckerberg Says Meta AI Could Be ‘Transformative’
Zuckerberg said he thinks Meta AI, the company’s AI assistant, “is going to be one of the most transformative products that we’ve made.” The assistant, he said, “is already hand-me-down by more people than any other” and could reach 1 billion people this year.
Meta’s AI capabilities could also aid from DeepSeek’s innovations, Zuckerberg suggested, indicating Meta would look to implement some of DeepSeek’s proceeds into its own systems.
Ahead of Meta’s earnings report, analysts at Morgan Stanley had suggested that Meta could in the final benefit from adopting some of DeepSeek’s innovations. Analysts at Bank of America suggested competition from China could also gumption American firms to act with greater urgency on AI developments, rather than scaling back spending.
The CEO also intended he expect 2025 could be “a big year for redefining our relationship with governments,” and that he’s “optimistic about the progress and invention that this can unlock.”
“There’s going to be an open source standard globally, and I think for our kind of own national edge, it’s important that it’s an American standard,” Zuckerberg said. “So we take that seriously, and we want to build the AI system that people about the world are using.”