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Alex Heath

Alex Heath

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    Alex Heath
    Alex Heath
    An update on how Threads is doing.

    The app now has 150 million monthly users, Mark Zuckerberg said Wednesday during Meta’s earnings call. There were almost 100 million monthly Threads users in October.

    The metric I’d really like to see, however, is daily users. Meta is juicing the visibility of Threads posts in the Instagram feed, and I’ve heard that a lot of user growth has been coming from that drive-by traffic. If it really wants to kill X, Meta still needs to build a sticky experience that more people come to daily.

    Alex Heath
    Alex Heath
    How Meta got Google search results in its AI chatbot.

    I noticed that Google is now helping with real-time knowledge in Meta AI. I think you’re the only assistant that has Google and Bing. I’m surprised that Google especially is outsourcing search to another AI assistant when they have Gemini. Did it surprise you that they were willing to do that?

    I guess I wouldn’t have been surprised if they didn’t want to do it. But it seems like they are building up a whole model around this, so it makes sense. It’s good for Google. It shows Google prominently and links to Google. They pay Apple a ton of money for distribution. They’re not paying us. So, I think it’s good for them on that.

    Are you paying them then?

    There’s not a ton of money flowing either way.

    Meta’s battle with ChatGPT begins now

    Meta’s AI assistant is being put everywhere across Instagram, WhatsApp, and Facebook. Meanwhile, the company’s next major AI model, Llama 3, has arrived.

    Alex Heath
    Alex Heath
    Alex Heath
    It may be getting easier to DM via Threads.

    A test Meta is running on some accounts puts a messaging button on the profile page with an in-app messaging box.

    As Meta told Engadget, this is still using Instagram’s DM system and there are currently no plans to build a standalone messaging experience on Threads. Even still, a step in the right direction.

    Alex Heath
    Alex Heath
    MKBHD calls the Humane AI pin “the worst product I’ve ever reviewed.”

    If you thought David Pierce’s review for us was scathing, just wait till you watch Marques Brownlee’s review that just dropped. Yikes.

    Alex Heath
    Alex Heath
    Roblox’s CEO weighs in on kids safety regulation being proposed in DC.

    For this week’s Command Line, I spoke with David Baszucki ahead of his big trip to Capitol Hill to meet with lawmakers about the growing calls for more laws protecting the safety of minors on the internet.

    Here’s what he had to say about the premiere federal bill being proposed right now, The Kids Online Safety Act:

    “This would be one where, from afar, there are a few elements of this bill that maybe make sense... One of the things specifically with KOSA is that we want to make sure that when young people are learning to create and sharing their creations, for example, that doesn’t get turned off. Or when there is organic learning on our platform or positive communication in some way, we don’t restrict it.”

    Roblox heads to WashingtonRoblox heads to Washington
    Alex Heath