Meta will listen into AI conversations to personalize ads

Summary

Meta, having committed hundreds of billions to AI infrastructure and talent, says it will start using people's conversations and interactions with its AI services to create personalized content and advertising. This applies to Meta AI, the company's web-based chat interface, and apps that integrate Meta AI, such as Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger. Meta intends to begin using people's text exchanges and voice conversations with its AI service to generate personalized posts, reels, and other attention lures starting on December 16, 2025. "For example, if you chat with Meta AI about hiking, we may learn that you’re interested in hiking – just as we would if you posted a reel about hiking or liked a hiking-related Page," the company explained in its announcement. "As a result, you might start seeing recommendations for hiking groups, posts from friends about trails, or ads for hiking boots." A notification campaign about the change begins October 7, 2025. There's no opt-out, but Meta has spared those who live in the EU, the UK, and South Korea for the time being. The social networking giant and metaverse money-burner will let users make some adjustments to its slop-gavage loop with its Ads Preferences and feed customization controls. Meta insists it won't personalize ads based on conversations that touch on religion, sexual orientation, politics, health, race, ethnicity, philosophical belief, or trade union membership. That list of untouchable topics suggests canny Meta users could stymie the personalization plan by prefixing every interaction with a suitably sensitive term – for example, start every interaction with "Pray tell..." or “Oh, Lord, Meta really thought this was a good idea?” Known as Facebook until brand damage from incessant privacy scandals inspired a name change in 2021, Meta was notionally focused on the metaverse – an ill-defined term for immersive digital experiences that may or may not involve goggles. Having spent something like $60 bil...