Meta reports 3.5 billion daily users as AI push gathers pace

Meta has reported a strong quarter, saying more than 3.5 billion people are now using at least one of its apps every day, as growth in its core platforms and new artificial intelligence efforts continue to shape its future direction.

The company said user activity across Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp remained on an upward trend, supported by higher engagement driven largely by video content. It added that its newer platform Threads was also gaining ground within its category, while WhatsApp continued to expand its reach, including in the United States.

“We had a strong quarter for our community, our business, and our progress towards AI,” Meta CEO, Mark Zuckerberg said on Thursday, in remarks accompanying its quarterly earnings report.

Meta noted a slight drop in total daily users across its family of apps, linking it to internet outages in Iran and restrictions in Russia. Despite this, the company maintained that overall performance across its platforms remained positive.

A key highlight for the period was the rollout of the Muse family of artificial intelligence models. The company introduced its first model, Muse Spark, alongside upgrades to Meta AI, describing the launch as a major step in its long-term AI plans.

“Our biggest milestone so far this year has been the release of our Muse family of models and our first model, Muse Spark,” the company said.

Meta said the new models marked the first output from its Superintelligence Labs, where it has spent the past 10 months building a research team and setting up systems to support more advanced AI development.

Through its CEO, the company highlighted that Spark had already made Meta AI a “world-class assistant” with capabilities in visual understanding, health, shopping, local services, social content and game creation.

He added that use of Meta AI had increased sharply since the latest updates, while the Meta AI app had remained near the top of app store rankings.

Looking ahead, Meta said it plans to move beyond simple assistants and develop digital agents that can better understand user needs and offer continuous support.

“Our goal is not just to deliver Meta AI as an assistant, but to deliver agents that can understand your goals and then work day and night to help you achieve them,” it said.

The company also pointed to growing demand for AI tools aimed at businesses, saying early testing showed strong uptake. Weekly conversations involving these tools have risen tenfold since the start of the year, reflecting increased interest from companies seeking to reach customers and improve service.

Meta added that its AI systems would play a bigger role in shaping recommendations across Facebook, Instagram and its advertising platforms.

“For the first time in Meta's history we're going to be able to develop a first-principles understanding of what you care about,” it said.

Zuckerberg argued that artificial intelligence would support people rather than replace them.

“I think that AI is going to amplify people's ability to do what you want,” the company said, pointing to health, learning, relationships and career goals.

It added: “People will be more important in the future, not less.”

On infrastructure, Meta said it was raising its capital spending outlook for the year, citing rising costs of components such as memory. It said it is deploying more than 1GW of custom silicon built with Broadcom, alongside chips from AMD and systems from Nvidia.

Wearable technology also featured in the company’s plans, with Meta reporting that daily use of its AI-powered glasses had tripled compared to last year. It highlighted the launch of Ray-Ban Meta Optics, designed for all-day use, and said more designs and partnerships would be announced later this year.

The company said future versions of the glasses are expected to evolve into personal AI agents that can help users remember tasks and manage daily activities.

Meta also said artificial intelligence is already improving internal productivity, with smaller teams now able to build products in days instead of months.

“We are living through a historic technological transformation,” the company said.

The CEO concluded that the company remained among the companies best positioned to shape the future and was on track to deliver “personal superintelligence to billions of people.”