Meta Expanding AI Chatbot to Brazil and UK

Meta is bringing its AI chatbot to Brazil, the U.K. and four other new countries.

Aside from Bolivia, Guatemala, Paraguay and the Philippines, the social media giant plans to add the artificial intelligence (AI) tool to more countries more gradually, TechCrunch reported Wednesday (Oct. 7), citing an announcement from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s WhatsApp.

That future expansion includes the nations of Algeria, Egypt, Indonesia, Iraq, Jordan, Libya, Malaysia, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Thailand, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, Vietnam and Yemen, the report said.

Meta AI will also begin supporting some new languages, including Arabic, Indonesian, Thai, and Vietnamese by the end of this release cycle, per the report.

The news comes days after Meta debuted generative AI research showing how text inputs can be employed to create custom videos and sounds and edit existing videos.

Dubbed “Meta Movie Gen,” this AI model builds upon the company’s earlier generative AI models Make-A-Scene and Llama Image, combining the modalities of those earlier generation models and enables further fine-grained control.

And last month, the company introduced an upgrade to its AI voice features to include celebrity voices such as Judi Dench and John Cena. Experts say innovations such as these promise more natural and personalized interactions, marking a change in the eCommerce arena.

“This isn’t just about convenience — it’s about creating real, human connections between brands and customers,” Valentin Radu, founder of Omniconvert, told PYMNTS.

Research by PYMNTS Intelligence finds that almost half of all American consumers expect voice assistants to match human intelligence and reliability within five years, with many saying they’d be willing to pay for such services.

While Meta’s AI assistants now use celebrity voices — a switch expected to boost engagement by making interactions more relatable and fun — the bigger update involves the ability to process visual information, such as user-uploaded photos.

This feature opens new avenues for social commerce, letting users upload an image of a product and receive instant, AI-driven recommendations or purchase options. Radu sees this shift as a logical next step.

“AI voice features provide a seamless, personal experience,” he said, adding that the technology offers a more intuitive shopping experience by providing immediate, tailored responses, reducing friction for the consumer.

“Introducing celebrity voices isn’t just for entertainment — it adds a human touch to the interaction, making digital assistants feel more personable,” PYMNTS wrote. “The shift could lead to higher conversion rates and more meaningful brand-customer relationships.”