Meta (META.US) launches AI paid subscription service for the first time, taking a significant step towards commercialization. Stock price jumps over 3.7% in response.

Meta (META.US) officially launches its AI chatbot Siasun Robot & Automation, Meta AI introduces consumer subscription services, marking a crucial step for CEO Mark Zuckerberg in pushing AI towards commercialization. With Meta planning to invest billions of dollars in building AI infrastructure over the next few years, the company is facing increasing pressure to generate profits and cash flow, with AI subscription revenue seen as a new important growth direction in the future. According to the latest information released by Meta, Meta AI subscription services are currently divided into two levels. The basic version, called "Meta One Plus," costs $7.99 per month and is mainly aimed at users who frequently use AI to generate images, videos, and perform complex reasoning tasks. The premium version, named "Meta One Premium," costs $19.99 per month and has the same features as the basic version but offers a higher usage limit. Currently, this subscription service has been launched in Singapore, Guatemala, and Bolivia, and will gradually expand to more countries and regions in the future. Meta stated that ordinary users can still use Meta AI for image and video generation for free, but frequent use will be subject to usage limits. The company has not yet disclosed specific usage limits, but emphasized that the Premium version can provide "significantly more" AI usage. As a result of this news, Meta's stock price rose by 3.74% on Wednesday. However, the company's stock price has still fallen by about 4% since the beginning of the year. Analysts point out that one of the current key concerns for investors is when Zuckerberg's significant investment in AI will stable income. Zuckerberg has previously promised that Meta will invest at least $600 billion in AI infrastructure over the next few years. At the same time, the company is building a large AI data center in Louisiana, USA, with a total project investment expected to reach at least $200 billion. In its April earnings call, Meta announced a further increase in its capital spending forecast, causing some concern in the market about the scale of the company's AI investment. Meta has long emphasized that AI has helped improve the precision of its ad targeting and the efficiency of its ad system, thereby driving growth in ad revenue. However, the company is also actively seeking more direct ways to monetize AI. Currently, competitors including Alphabet Inc. Class C (GOOG.US, GOOGL.US) and OpenAI have also launched AI chatbot Siasun Robot & Automation subscription services. Meta's introduction of AI paid services further escalates the "subscription war" among global AI giants. It is worth noting that Meta is integrating its various product subscription systems under the "Meta One" brand. In addition to Meta AI, the company is currently testing subscription services for WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook. Helen Ma, head of Meta's subscription business, stated that these product subscriptions will gradually be promoted globally. The prices for these product subscriptions typically range from $2.99 to $3.99 per month, and support bundled purchases. In addition, Meta has also launched a new subscription plan for businesses and content creators. The "Meta One Essential" costs $14.99 per month, while the "Meta One Advanced" costs up to $49.99 per month. The premium version will provide customer support functions to help small and medium-sized businesses manage their Instagram and Facebook pages. Analysts point out that small and medium-sized businesses have long complained about the lack of effective human support on the Meta platform, so this feature may be welcomed by commercial users. Helen Ma also revealed that in the future, Meta hopes to further sell AI intelligent agent services by directly integrating AI assistants into enterprise operations. However, in terms of overall revenue structure, subscription services currently account for a very small proportion of Meta's revenue. Meta's first-quarter "non-advertising revenue" was $ 1.29 billion, including subscription fees, AI glasses, and virtual reality headsets and other hardware sales. In comparison, the company's advertising revenue for the same period exceeded $55 billion.