Meta

Meta Platforms, Inc., often just called Meta, is an American multinational technology conglomerate. It was founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg and was originally known as Facebook, Inc. The company changed its name to Meta in October 2021 to reflect its ambition beyond social media and its growing focus on the metaverse.

Meta owns and operates several popular social networking services and products, including Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger. These platforms connect billions of people worldwide. The company generates revenue primarily through advertising displayed across its family of apps.

Beyond its well-known social applications, Meta is investing heavily in the development of virtual and augmented reality technologies. Its Reality Labs division is responsible for products like the Meta Quest VR headsets, which are key components of its vision for the metaverse. The metaverse is envisioned as a persistent, interconnected set of virtual spaces where users can interact with each other, digital objects, and AI.

Meta also plays a significant role in AI research, using it to improve its social platforms, develop new experiences for the metaverse, and advance foundational AI models. For instance, they have released open-source large language models (LLMs) like LLaMA, contributing to the broader AI community.