Meta Platforms is a US technology company founded as Facebook in 2004. It operates Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp and develops virtual-reality and artificial-intelligence products, including Meta AI and the Llama model family.

What is Meta?

Meta is the parent company of a group of communication, social-media, and digital-advertising platforms. In October 2021, the corporate name changed from Facebook to Meta while the individual app names remained unchanged. Meta reports two operating segments: Family of Apps and Reality Labs.

What is Meta’s role in AI?

Meta uses AI in recommendation systems, advertising, integrity, and product features. It also develops generative models and tools for users and developers. The company introduced the original LLaMA model in February 2023 and later expanded the family through multiple Llama generations.

Who founded and leads Meta?

Mark Zuckerberg founded Facebook in 2004 and is Meta’s founder, chairman, and chief executive officer according to the company’s official leadership page. Meta is a public company listed on Nasdaq under the ticker META and has a board of directors and governance, audit, privacy, and risk committees.

What are its main products?

  • Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp.
  • Meta Quest hardware and extended-reality products.
  • Meta AI, the Llama model family, and AI tools for advertisers and developers.

Strengths

Meta has global distribution through its apps, substantial research and infrastructure resources, and a developer ecosystem around downloadable Llama models.

Limitations and material risks

Meta’s regulatory filings identify risks involving privacy, security, harmful or illegal content, misinformation, bias, intellectual property, regulation, and the cost and uncertainty of AI investments. These are company-disclosed risk factors, not claims that every listed harm has occurred.

In short

Meta is broader than an AI company. It belongs in this directory because it develops Llama and Meta AI and integrates AI throughout its platforms and products.