Meta is battling rivals including Amazon, OpenAI, Google, and Microsoft when it comes to models for powering AI, and has been incrementally weaving the technology into its platforms since launching its own AI chatbot in 2023.

An independent app devoted to AI would fit into Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg's stated vision of having the most used AI assistant in the world.

CNBC cited people familiar with the matter as saying Meta plans to debut a standalone AI app by the middle of this year.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman fired off a post on X, formerly Twitter, with a link to the CNBC story, writing: "OK, fine maybe we'll do a social app."

Meta is also planning to test a paid subscription tier for its AI platform, in a revenue generating tactic used by ChatGPT-maker OpenAI, according to the report.

Meta declined to comment for this story.

The tech giant recently reported surging profits and revenue for 2024, announcing ambitious plans to expand its artificial intelligence infrastructure in the year ahead.

"I expect 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 Assistant," CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on the earnings call.

The rise of Chinese startup DeepSeek's more economical AI model has reportedly prompted Meta to establish war rooms to study and potentially adapt the innovations for its own Llama AI models.

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