On February 27, Meta resumed using dark patterns to promote its standalone AI app amongst social media platforms, set to launch in the second quarter (Q2), which joins Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, according to CNBC.
Before launching the Meta AI standalone app, the Instagram-parent introduced its AI chatbot in September 2023, presenting it as a generative AI assistant that responds to user input and creates real-time images within its apps.
By April 2024, Zuckerberg expanded Meta AI’s visibility by replacing the search feature on Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger with the AI chatbot. Since then, CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s has used Meta AI as the platform of choice to promote the company’s generative AI technologies to billions of users.
The social media godfather has been developing its standalone AI app for some time, and this marks a major step for Zuckerberg, as his whole goal is to elevate Meta, making it a top AI company by end-year, according to anonymous sources involved in the standalone AI project.
“This is going to be the year when a highly intelligent and personalized AI assistant reaches more than 1 billion people, and I expect Meta AI to be that leading AI assistant,” Zuckerberg told analysts during the fourth-quarter (Q4) earnings call back in January.
Meta plans to surpass AI competitors like Google’s parent company, Alphabet Inc, and ChatGPT-parent OpenAI, to position itself as the only leader in generative AI.
OpenAI Enters ‘Natural Conversation’
As competition heightens, companies are focused on capturing user attention to retain engagement, but trust building is still not a priority for Meta’s Zuckerberg.
Almost two years after its initial release that broke the internet, OpenAI launched GPT-4.5, its latest AI language model, in February 2025, coinciding with Meta’s AI standalone app release date. The launch of GPT-4.5 is marked its presence because it is the final model OpenAI launched without “chain-of-thought reasoning” – a feature that allows AI to think before responding, mimicking human reasoning.
Meta’s independent AI tool efforts focused on “building a great consumer experience,” according to Meta’s finance chief Susan Li, adding that there are “pretty clear monetization opportunities here over time, including paid recommendations and including a premium offering.”
When questioned about this, Meta declined to comment.
With the posts related to the release of Meta’sindependent AI application, Sam Altmandecided to tweet his thoughts on X, and said “ok fine maybe we’ll do a social app.”
Earlier this week, Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri discussed plans, known as Project Ray, with employees, according to The Information. The initiative would feature more three-minute Reels videos and provide better content recommendations for new and existing users.
The Final Meta Push
Meta is clearly struggling to break any past patterns established by the company itself, and the truth of the matter is that it remains stuck in its loop due to its history of dark practices. To regain users’ trust, Meta should be prioritizing the elimination of obvious issues rather than creating new apps and features to cover up their dark patterns.
The cherry on top, and after a brief prohibition, TikTok is back on the App Store and Google Play in the United States. In turn, Instagram is competing with TikTok by considering introducing a self-contained AI tool app for its Reels feature
Meta has been juggling many projects at once, such as releasing standalone AI applications, yet continues to ignore the users trust issues due to its involvement with creative information collecting patterns, that undermine users’ intelligence and doesn’t create a trust relationship.
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