Meta AI could soon introduce a paid subscription, following similar steps by OpenAI, Google, and Microsoft. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg confirmed during a briefing after the company’s quarterly earnings call that Meta is ready to offer “a premium service for those who need additional computing power or features.” By 2035, Meta expects to earn up to $1.4 trillion from its artificial intelligence operations.
To compete more directly with OpenAI, Meta this week launched a standalone Meta AI mobile app. This app allows users to chat with a chatbot and generate images. Previously, the chatbot was only available inside the Facebook, Facebook Messenger, and WhatsApp platforms. Meta says it already has nearly 1 billion users.
OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini, and Microsoft’s Copilot all offer paid versions with enhanced computing capabilities and additional tools. Meta AI is expected to follow a similar route, though Zuckerberg has cautioned that product recommendations or advertising may also be part of the experience. The timeline for introducing both advertising and a paid plan remains unclear. Still, we’ll keep you updated as more integrations become available.
Revenue Goals and AI Investment
Last year, Meta projected that its generative AI products could bring in between $2 billion and $3 billion in 2025. The company estimates that this figure could increase dramatically to between $460 billion and $1.4 trillion by 2035. These numbers were disclosed as part of a legal case in which book publishers accused Meta of using copyrighted material to train its AI.
In 2024, Meta’s budget for generative AI was set at $900 million, reminds NIX Solutions. That figure is expected to surpass $1 billion this year. However, these amounts do not include infrastructure spending. In 2025 alone, infrastructure investments — mostly for building data centers — could total between $60 billion and $80 billion. In 2023, the company also discussed a $200 million plan to purchase training data for its Llama AI models, with $100 million allocated for acquiring book content.
While the full rollout of premium features is still in development, Meta’s growing financial commitment to AI signals the importance of this sector for the company’s future.