• by Colin Kirkland , 5 hours ago

Despite Meta’s sudden pause of AI companion use for underage social media consumers, CEO Mark Zuckerberg remains bullish on the tech giant’s investment in AI as the company announces the release of new AI “models and products” over the coming months, especially in the area of social commerce.

Following the release of Meta’s fourth-quarter performance results, Zuckerberg stated on an investor call Wednesday that the company’s upcoming AI models and products will have “implications for commerce.”

According to Zuckerberg, this includes agentic shopping tools designed to help consumers discover products from the businesses in Meta’s catalog. 

The decision to develop and launch AI-powered shopping tools follows Meta’s recent acquisition of Manus, an autonomous AI agent technology that the tech company will use to accelerate its conversational platforms like Facebook and WhatsApp, as well as boost its social commerce business. 

Manus will likely play a key factor in Meta’s approach to accomplishing its social commerce goals over the next year, as the company plans to sell the Manus service and integrate it into its next-gen products. 

“We’re starting to see the promise of AI that understands our personal context, including our history, our interests, our content and our relationships,” Zuckerberg said on the investor call. “A lot of what makes agents valuable is the unique context that they can see.”

Manus AI agents receive data from third-party digital data companies for breakdowns of consumer activity and campaign effectiveness, including monthly visits, unique visitors, and digital marketing channel performance.

In addition, Zuckerberg sees Meta’s AI technology stoking more media engagement across its family of apps, mentioning more immersive and interactive media formats and app feeds.

“Today, our apps feel like algorithms that recommend content,” Zuckerberg said, adding that Meta is working on providing AI with more power over what personalized content and ads users see on social media. 

According to Meta’s Q4 earnings report, the company will spend between $115 and $135 billion on overall capital expenditures throughout 2026, marking a sizable increase from the $72 billion Meta spent doing so in 2025. 

As part of the $600 billion Zuckerberg already projected for Meta’s infrastructure spending between now and 2028 in the U.S., Meta’s planned expenditure increase for 2026 is linked to “increased investment to support our Meta Superintelligence Labs efforts and core business.”

Zuckerberg told investors that Meta plans on delivering personal superintelligence to consumers in 2026, while building AI infrastructure and building out its business offerings.