Meta launches enterprise AI business seeking to cash in on vast spending

Meta is launching a new business selling AI tools to enterprise customers, as chief executive Mark Zuckerberg seeks new ways to generate returns from the company’s enormous investment in the technology.

The parent of Facebook and Instagram on Monday said that the new arm would bring together products including its Muse personal assistant and coding tools, alongside access to its advanced AI models.

Chirantan “CJ” Desai, chief executive of database group MongoDB, will helm the new business unit and report directly to Zuckerberg.

“We are starting the next major pillar of our business, Meta Enterprise Platform, to help businesses use AI to grow and transform in new ways as well,” said Zuckerberg in a statement.

The move comes as Zuckerberg seeks to turn Meta’s vast spending on artificial intelligence into new sources of revenue beyond its core advertising business. The company plans to spend as much as $145bn in capital expenditure this year, much of it on the data centre infrastructure and advanced models underpinning its AI push.

Meta’s shares have rallied sharply in recent weeks as the success of Muse, its new AI assistant, has helped shift investor sentiment towards Zuckerberg’s spending spree. The app, the development of which was first revealed by the FT in May, has quickly become the most downloaded app on both the Apple and Android app stores in the US since its launch at the beginning of September.

That rally reversed on Monday, with Meta shares falling 4 per cent following the announcement of its new enterprise arm. MongoDB shares dropped nearly 20 per cent after Desai’s departure was announced.Zuckerberg has insisted that Meta’s AI investments will bolster its core advertising business while creating new profit engines.

The easy-to-use Muse app offers consumers a team of autonomous bots to carry out everyday tasks, such as ordering groceries, booking travel and organising finances.

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Zuckerberg last week unveiled a new handheld AI “charm” device that will feature Muse, alongside a range of new capabilities including the ability to have live conversations with the interactive AI assistant.

The Meta chief has previously discussed selling excess data centre capacity to customers, in a move that would see the company compete with cloud computing giants including Amazon and Microsoft.

On Monday, Zuckerberg told investors that the group would “use our strengths” including vast data centre infrastructure in a push to serve enterprise customers. He did not state whether the company had immediate plans to sell excess capacity to customers, similar to rival SpaceX, which has signed deals with Anthropic and Google.

“Meta Enterprise Platform will focus on turning its AI stack into products and services that companies can deploy for their own businesses,” Desai said. “Our goal is to make Meta the place enterprises come to scale their businesses.”