On Wednesday, Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) CEO Mark Zuckerberg said personal AI agents could eventually help billions of people manage everything from their careers and finances to their health and relationships, calling the opportunity “almost inevitable.”
Meta Sees Personal AI Agents as the Next Big Market
During Meta’s second-quarter earnings call, Bernstein analyst Mark Shmulik asked whether consumer AI adoption could move beyond using chatbots as “glorified search” tools and whether a breakthrough was approaching.
Zuckerberg said some AI products have already gained traction, pointing to the rapid growth of coding agents over the past year.
He described coding as the first major agentic AI market because developers are technically sophisticated, willing to experiment and more comfortable working with tools that require setup and troubleshooting.
But bringing AI agents to consumers on a massive scale presents a different challenge.
“If you’re trying to build something that isn’t used by millions of people but is used by billions of people, it needs to just work,” Zuckerberg said.
AI Agents Could Work Around the Clock
Zuckerberg said he believes it is “extremely unlikely” that, within roughly five years, billions of people will not have personal AI agents that understand their goals and work on their behalf around the clock.
Those agents could help users manage their health, hobbies, personal finances, careers, relationships, household responsibilities and productivity, he said.
Meta is Betting on Its Scale
Meta is pursuing personal AI agents alongside Meta AI, business-focused agents and advanced AI models capable of enabling new products.
Zuckerberg argued that Meta’s experience building consumer products for billions of people could give it an advantage. The company also has the infrastructure needed to support computationally intensive AI services at a global scale.
Still, he acknowledged that Meta has yet to launch the type of personal AI agent he envisions.
“I kind of understand that we need to deliver it for our community,” Zuckerberg said. “That’s what we’re very focused on.”
Notably, in June, AGI Inc. CEO Div Garg warned that AI agents could disrupt major tech companies such as Alphabet Inc.’s (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Google and Meta by reducing reliance on traditional search and human-driven advertising.
Meta Q2 Revenue Beats Estimates, CapEx Outlook Rises
Meta reported second-quarter revenue of $60.80 billion, beating Wall Street estimates of $59.50 billion, while adjusted earnings of $6.18 per share missed expectations of $7.13. Revenue rose 28% year over year.
For the third quarter, Meta forecast revenue of $61 billion to $64 billion, compared with estimates of $62.68 billion.
The company raised the lower end of its full-year 2026 expense outlook to $165 billion from $162 billion and lifted its capital expenditure forecast to $130 billion to $145 billion, up from $125 billion to $145 billion.
Price Action: Meta closed Wednesday’s session at $585.61, down 1.31% and fell another 7.45% to $542 in after-hours trading, according to Benzinga Pro.
According to Benzinga Edge Stock Rankings, Meta scores in the 89th percentile for Growth, although the stock has lagged across the short, medium and long term.
Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
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