Meta Explores Partnership with Google Cloud to Enhance Ad Targeting

(Reuters) – In a bid to bolster its advertising capabilities, Meta is reportedly in talks with Alphabet’s Google Cloud regarding the potential integration of its Gemini AI models. This information comes from The Information, highlighting that these discussions are still in their infancy and may not culminate in a formal agreement.

While Alphabet has opted not to comment on the ongoing conversations, a request for comment from Meta remained unanswered at the time of the report.

According to sources familiar with the talks, Meta employees have suggested the idea of fine-tuning Google’s Gemini and the open-source Gemma models using Meta’s own ad data. The goal of this collaboration would be to enhance the company’s ad targeting capabilities, a critical aspect of their business.

This notable move by the owner of Instagram and WhatsApp to consider Google’s AI services rather than relying on its own in-house models reflects the challenges Meta has faced in scaling its AI technologies. Despite investing billions in research, infrastructure, and acquiring talent for AI development, the results have not met expectations.

Meta and Google are direct competitors in the online advertising landscape. In their latest earnings reports, both companies emphasized how their investments in AI are playing a pivotal role in driving growth within their core advertising sectors.

In addition to the potential partnership with Google, Meta has been contemplating collaborations with providers such as OpenAI, the creators of ChatGPT. These partnerships aim to enhance AI functionalities, including conversational capabilities for the Meta AI chatbot and other AI-driven features across Meta’s suite of social media applications.

(Reporting by Deborah Sophia in Bengaluru; Editing by Alan Barona)