Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has stated that WhatsApp has over 3 billion users during the company’s Q1 results conference call.

Zuckerberg noted that although WhatsApp offers a convenient way to access AI tools, Meta has needed to adopt a different strategy to encourage the use of its AI products in markets such as the United States, where most users still rely on default messaging apps on their phones.

“We hope to become the leader over time [in the U.S. messaging market], but we’re in a different position there than we are in most of the rest of the world on WhatsApp,” he added.

“So I think that the Meta AI app as a standalone is going to be particularly important in the United States to establish leadership in — as the main personal AI that people use. But we’re going to keep on advancing the experiences across the board in all of these different areas.”

WhatsApp remained free to use and did not display any advertisements. The application had already reached the milestone of 2 billion monthly active users in 2020.

However, with its latest achievement, it became one of the few platforms, alongside Facebook, to surpass the 3 billion user mark.

Meta previously stated that WhatsApp served as one of its primary distribution channels for AI-driven services.

“We see people engage with Meta AI from several different entry points. WhatsApp continues to see the strongest Meta AI usage across our family of apps,” Meta’s CFO, Susan Li said.

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Standalone AI app

Meta launched its first dedicated AI assistant application on Tuesday.

“A billion people are using Meta AI across our apps now, so we made a new standalone Meta AI app for you to check out,” Zuckerberg said in a video posted on Instagram.

“We’re starting off really basic, with just a little bit of context about your interests,” the CEO said. “But over time, you’re going be able to let Meta AI know a whole lot about you and the people you care about from across our apps, if you want.”

“We learn from seeing each other do it, so we put this right in the app,” Meta chief product officer Chris Cox said.

“You can share your prompts. You can share your art. It’s super fun.”