Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg believes that billions of people will have their own personal AI agents within the next 5 years, and the company is making significant investments to turn that vision into reality.
Speaking during Meta’s latest earnings call, Zuckerberg said AI agents will go beyond traditional chatbots by understanding users’ goals, automating tasks, and working in the background even when users are offline. He said, “I think it is highly unlikely—looking 5 years out, for example, or whatever time frame you choose—that there won’t be billions of people with a personal agent that understands their goals and works on their behalf 24/7 to achieve them in whatever area interests them.”
He added that personal AI agents will become “the foundation of our next wave of products and revenue streams in the months and years ahead.”
Meta’s AI ambitions come with a significant financial commitment. The company’s free cash flow fell 91% in the 2nd quarter, dropping from $8.55 billion to $784 million, the lowest level since 2022, as it continued investing heavily in AI infrastructure. Meta also raised the lower end of its 2026 capital expenditure forecast from $125 billion to $130 billion, while its shares fell about 10% after the earnings announcement.
Meta is not alone in making large AI investments. Alphabet, Google’s parent company, recently reported negative free cash flow of $5.9 billion in the 2nd quarter, reflecting its continued spending on AI.
Zuckerberg also said Meta plans to expand its AI infrastructure by increasing its computing capacity to 7 gigawatts this year and 14 gigawatts next year. The company currently has 32 data centres either operating or under construction.
This year, Meta introduced the Muse family of AI models, including Muse Spark 1.1 and Muse Image, developed by Meta Superintelligence Labs (MSL) under the leadership of Alexandr Wang.
Zuckerberg also highlighted the importance of messaging platforms in the AI era, stating, “As we move toward a future where we all interact with multiple agents, I believe WhatsApp and our other messaging platforms will become increasingly important.”
Alongside its AI investments, Meta’s Reality Labs division reported quarterly losses of about $4.6 billion and has accumulated more than $80 billion in operating losses since 2021. The company also incurred severance costs after laying off nearly 10% of its workforce, or around 8,000 employees, in May.
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