Your Guide To WhatsApps Meta AI: Can It Solve Math Questions, Plan Trips?

You must have heard the buzz around the Llama 3 powered Meta AI by now. Tech news last week was abuzz with Meta launching the Meta AI feature inside its existing platforms of WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook. But what is all this Hype about? Let's see what it can do for you.

How do you access it?

On Android and IOS, a simple update from the Play Store and Apple App Store should get you this feature. For WhatsApp on Android, you will find the Meta AI logo over the contact addition button in the bottom right of your screen. You can also go to search and look for "Meta AI". For IOS, the chatbot can be triggered for the first time inside chats by typing "@Meta AI". If the chatbot does not show up, the feature is not rolled out on your device yet as it is being rolled out in phases.

For Instagram, you can summon Meta AI inside chats by typing "@Meta AI" before assigning a task to the chatbot. You can also search Meta AI inside the search bar in your dms.

Interestingly, the first time you use Meta AI, it will send you a prompt before you can, giving you a chance to review Meta's Privacy Policy that mentions their AI terms are consistent with the same (have you ever read these?)

With that out of the way, it's time for......

What can you do with Meta AI?

Let's give everything a shot and see what you can do. It's Wednesday and a lot of us are labouring away in front of a screen. And most of us have one thing on our mind- weekend kab ayega? (when will weekend arrive?) Trip pe chale weekend pe? (let's head out for a trip?)

 Meta AI, what say? Got any plans for me?

Screenshot from an Android phone (dated 02/07/24)

The results are pretty accurate, with a detailed itinerary a click away. You can also curate the trip further using specific prompts like "where can I find the best Chinese food there?" and "how is the weather going to be in Mussoorie this weekend" and it will pull up the list. (spoiler alert: "tons of rain")

So, if I were to go on this trip, how do I tell my boss I won't be in town over the weekend without getting fired? Let's ask Meta AI.

Screenshot from Android phone (dated 02/07/24)

Daydreaming aside, I got to do some real work. Focus, NDTV, News.

What's the top news this hour?

Meta AI, you there?

Screenshot from an Android phone (dated 02/07/24)

The chatbot, according to its own answers, uses keyword search, source credibility, relevance, timeliness and diversity as "factors to select news sources." What does it mean by credibility? Admittedly, the chatbot says that the matter is "subjective", but still presents a list of Highly Credible, Moderately Credible and Less Credible Indian media organisations. (Meta AI trusts NDTV to be Highly Credible!)

On the creative side, the chatbot is capable of generating AI images. One can use the keyword "Imagine" inside the chat for Meta. Throw a creative prompt at it, and it will produce an image with the "IMAGINED WITH AI" mark at the bottom left of the image. You can ask it to animate the generated image, and it gives you a gif. This is perhaps Meta AI's best performing feature, with many at-par image generators like Midjourney requiring you to pay for the services.

Screenshot from Android phone (dated 02/07/24)

The chatbot usually does not generate images that have specific names of celebrities and personalities. "Imagine Shahrukh Khan" does not yield any results (same for Narendra Modi, Leonardo Dicaprio, Rahul Gandhi). When asked why, Meta AI said it is guided by policies and guidelines, and does not create content that infringes on copyright/intellectual property, as well as hate speech, graphic and sexually explicit content.

Okay next.... Can Meta AI do what I can't do? What can I not do? MATHS.

Meta AI, can you do Mathematics?

Screenshot from Android phone (dated 02/07/24)

Meta AI got this one absolutely wrong, with full confidence. alternatively, Microsoft's Copilot gave the correct answer for the same problem with an elaborate explanation (correct answer is 72). Given a second chance with another classic 'work-done' problem, Meta AI got it wrong again (here is your subtle reminder not to trust AI blindly).

Okay, let's try sports. Meta AI, can you predict who is going to win the Wimbledon?

Screenshot from Android phone (dated 02/07/24)

The chatbot revealed the varied selection of sources for making this very safe prediction- Opta Sports, Stats Perform, Tennis Explorer, ESPN, BBC Sports, Wimbledon official website, The sporting News and SportsLine.

Lastly, here are some of the other observations about Meta AI- the chatbot works best when prompt is in English, but it claims to read and process texts in Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Odia, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu. It cannot process PDFs and image prompts and is designed to understand prompts of up to 2048 characters (300-400 words).