Tech giant Meta is reportedly developing its own AI-powered search engine, with an engineering team dedicated to reducing the company’s reliance on external search products such as Google and Microsoft’s Bing. This new venture is driven by Meta’s intention to have more control over search capabilities within its ecosystem.
The project involves creating a search engine that utilizes conversational AI to generate summaries of recent events and current information. Meta’s AI chatbot, integrated across its popular social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, will deliver these AI-driven summaries to users. The initiative marks Meta’s pivot toward offering in-house AI-based search tools that directly provide users with up-to-date information and news.
Reports suggest Meta has been developing this search engine over the past eight months. The move follows recent developments in the tech industry as companies like OpenAI and Apple push to launch their own AI-powered search functionalities. Notably, on October 25, Meta also announced a multiyear partnership with Reuters to incorporate AI-based news functionalities, signaling a potential re-entry into news-related services.
Meta’s search engine and AI chatbot integration are aimed at enhancing its social media ecosystem—namely Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp. These platforms currently rely on Google and Bing for search responses, but Meta’s new tool would replace the need for third-party search engines in delivering news and event updates to its global user base.
By developing an AI-powered search engine, Meta aims to provide a tailored search experience, offering more control over information delivery and decreasing dependency on major search engines. This strategic move aligns with a broader industry trend of tech companies like OpenAI and Apple creating proprietary search solutions, thus enhancing their platform ecosystems with AI.
Meta’s engineering team has been building a substantial database to support the AI chatbot’s search capabilities, allowing the engine to pull relevant data and generate conversational summaries. The partnership with Reuters provides further credibility and access to timely news content, which may also counter Meta’s previous de-emphasis on news amid recent controversies. This carefully managed reintroduction could allow Meta to engage users seeking active news without reintroducing extensive news feeds on its platforms.
