Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Meta, stated during the company's latest quarterly earnings call that billions of people will have AI agents capable of understanding personal goals and assisting with tasks around the clock within the next five years. Meta is building its strategy around personal AI agents, instant messaging platforms, and AI infrastructure, aiming to position AI agents as a key product and source of revenue growth for the next phase.

Zuckerberg believes that in the future, people will use AI agents to handle complex matters such as finance, health, relationships, and family management. He said that as the era of interacting with multiple AI agents emerges, the importance of instant messaging platforms like WhatsApp will further increase. Currently, WhatsApp has become the main entry point for users to access Meta's AI services.

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Meta is not the only tech company betting on the agent direction. Google is upgrading its search experience, making custom AI agents one of its core features; Claude Code, an AI coding assistant from Anthropic, has also seen rapid growth due to developer popularity. Industry competition is shifting from traditional chatbots to AI Agent systems capable of performing tasks and acting on behalf of users.

However, Meta's large-scale investment in AI has raised concerns among investors. After releasing its financial results, the company's stock dropped nearly 10%. The company's Reality Labs division lost about $4.6 billion this quarter, bringing cumulative losses since 2021 to approximately $88 billion, mainly invested in AR glasses, VR headsets, and related software ecosystems.

Meanwhile, Meta's investment in AI infrastructure continues to grow. This quarter, the company's free cash flow was only $784 million, down about 91% compared to $8.55 billion in the same period last year. This week, Meta announced a partnership with BlackRock, investing about $1.4 billion to build a data center in El Paso, Texas, to support future AI computing needs.

Zuckerberg stated that while there are opportunities to sell AI computing power, compared to directly providing computing power, AI products and intelligent services still offer higher profit potential. He expects personal AI agents to be a core product direction for the coming months and years.