Meta is preparing to incorporate artificial intelligence across its platforms, playing catch-up to Microsoft and Google.

Microsoft has been leading the charge on AI, incorporating next-generation ChatGPT tech into Bing. Google is similarly attempting to deploy AI across its services. Meta, on the other hand, has been noticeably absent from any discussions regarding AI — at least until Monday.

In a Facebook post, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company plans to roll out AI across the company’s various products and services:

We’re creating a new top-level product group at Meta focused on generative AI to turbocharge our work in this area. We’re starting by pulling together a lot of the teams working on generative AI across the company into one group focused on building delightful experiences around this technology into all of our different products. In the short term, we’ll focus on building creative and expressive tools. Over the longer term, we’ll focus on developing AI personas that can help people in a variety of ways. We’re exploring experiences with text (like chat in WhatsApp and Messenger), with images (like creative Instagram filters and ad formats), and with video and multi-modal experiences. We have a lot of foundational work to do before getting to the really futuristic experiences, but I’m excited about all of the new things we’ll build along the way.

Given Zuckerberg’s obsession with the metaverse, it’s almost surprising to see something else capture his attention enough to warrant a “new top-level product group.” That fact that AI is that thing only emphasizes the importance of the burgeoning tech.