Your social media might be looking different recently and if so, it's thanks to Meta's new artificial intelligence feature.
Facebook, Messenger, WhatsApp and Instagram now have the feature which is described by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerburg as "the most intelligent AI assistant that you can freely use".
The company rolled out the free AI feature on April 18 in several territories around the world including New Zealand, Australia, Jamaica and Singapore.
Meta AI is somewhat similar to My AI from Snapchat and ChatGPT from OpenAI.
But not every user wants the new feature Zuckerburg is talking up.
How to turn off Meta AI
When asked by Newshub how to turn off the feature, Meta's AI chat assistant claimed it was unable to be turned off.
"Meta AI aims to be a helpful assistant and is in the search bar to assist with your questions," the bot responded.
"You can't disable it from this experience, but you can search how you normally would to engage with a variety of results."
Newshub then challenged the bot by asking why the feature can't be turned off.
"I'm integrated into the search bar. This means that I'm always ready to help, but I don't have a switch to turn me off."
When asked to "shut down the feature", the bot responded: "I understand your request, but I'm a fixture in this search experience, so I can't be shut down or disabled."
So, it would appear little blue bubble appearing in your search bar might not disappear.
However, a few online outlets have shared potential workarounds.
On Meta's social media apps, users can block out feature by clicking on the blue bubble in the top left of their search bar, tapping on the three dots at the top right of the Meta AI account and selecting either block or mute.
On WhatsApp, Meta AI can be shut down by toggling Meta AI in the Settings > Chats > Show Meta AI button.
What does Meta AI actually do?
According to a news release from Meta, the feature allows users to "access real-time information from across the web without having to bounce between apps".
When asked by Newshub what service they provide, they responded: "I'm an AI assistant that helps you with a wide range of tasks."
According to the bot, the tasks include:
Answering questions on various topics
Generating text and writing suggestions
Offering suggestions for movies, books and music
Chat and have conversations with users
Meta AI can also generate images, search specific Instagram reels and supply stories or jokes.
With the task of Meta answering questions, in a disclaimer at the top of the chat bot it notes: "Messages are generated by AI. Some may be inaccurate or inappropriate."
