Meta Identifies India as the Leading Market for AI Usage

WhatsApp's impressive 500 million users in India have significantly boosted Meta's AI aspirations. During a recent earnings call, Meta CFO Susan Li revealed that India has emerged as the largest market for Meta AI, achieved just months after its launch in the country.

Li highlighted the remarkable engagement with Meta AI, noting that users have made billions of queries since the service went live. “We’re observing encouraging trends in WhatsApp regarding user retention and engagement, which align with India becoming our leading market for Meta AI,” she stated.

Meta initially launched Meta AI—integrating it across Instagram, Facebook, Messenger, WhatsApp, and the web—in the United States last year. In April, the company enhanced the chatbot with the advanced Llama 3 model, subsequently expanding its availability to over a dozen countries.

While testing of Meta AI began in India around the same time as its U.S. debut, full access for users wasn't granted until June, after the conclusion of India’s general elections. The company has encountered cultural hurdles in tailoring AI to better fit the Indian market. In May, reports indicated that Meta AI generated images predominantly featuring Indian men with turbans. Additionally, in July, several users on X expressed frustrations over the AI's selective humor, as it produced jokes about one religion while avoiding others. In response, Meta adjusted its algorithm to ensure fair treatment across all religious contexts.

Recently, Meta expanded its AI capabilities by adding support for several languages beyond English, including French, German, Hindi (both in Devanagari and Romanized scripts), Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish. Meta AI is now accessible in 22 countries, with new entries like Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, and Mexico.

During the call, Zuckerberg discussed the significant computational demands of developing the next Llama 4 model. “Training Llama 4 will require nearly 10 times the computing resources we used for Llama 3. Future models are expected to need even more,” he explained.

Beyond AI, Meta is experiencing positive momentum with its social media platforms. The company announced that Threads is nearing 200 million users, having recently surpassed 175 million active users. Additionally, Zuckerberg noted a resurgence in Facebook engagement among young adults in the United States.

Correction: The insights regarding India and Meta AI usage were mistakenly attributed to Mark Zuckerberg; these comments were actually made by CFO Susan Li.