The Meta AI app could soon introduce a paid tier, akin to those offered by competitors like OpenAI, Google, and Microsoft. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg mentioned this plan during a Q1 2025 earnings call on Wednesday, highlighting the potential to provide a “premium service for people who want to unlock more compute or additional functionality” in Meta AI.
In its bid to rival ChatGPT, Meta recently launched a standalone Meta AI app, enabling users to engage with the chatbot and generate images within the app. Previously, the chatbot, which Meta reports now boasts nearly 1 billion users, was accessible only through applications such as Facebook, Messenger, and WhatsApp.
OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini, and Microsoft’s Copilot all feature paid subscriptions, offering users advanced functionalities and compute capabilities. Meta disclosed earning $42 billion in revenue over recent months and announced plans to increase its AI investment to up to $72 billion, a rise from the previously stated maximum of $65 billion by Zuckerberg.
Additionally, Zuckerberg mentioned incorporating “product recommendations or ads” within Meta AI. It’s not clear when ads, or a paid tier, might roll out, as Zuckerberg said, “I expect that we’re going to be largely focused on scaling and deepening engagement for at least the next year before we’ll really be ready to start building out the business.”
