Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg believes artificial intelligence agents will become an integral part of everyday life, with billions of people eventually relying on personal AI assistants that work continuously to help achieve their goals. To realise that vision, the company is significantly increasing its investment in AI, even as it puts pressure on its cash reserves.

Speaking during Meta’s latest earnings call, Zuckerberg said AI agents would form the foundation of the company’s next generation of products and revenue streams, positioning Meta at the forefront of the rapidly intensifying AI race.

Zuckerberg Bets on AI Agents

Zuckerberg described AI agents as a major evolution beyond traditional chatbots, capable of completing tasks autonomously and working in the background even when users are offline.

“I think that it’s extremely unlikely… that you don’t have billions of people with a personal agent that understands your goals and that is just working on your behalf 24/7 to achieve your goals,” he said during the earnings call.

He added that these personal AI agents would underpin Meta’s future products and become a key driver of the company’s long-term business strategy.

AI Spending Hits Meta’s Cash Flow

Meta’s aggressive AI investments have significantly reduced its free cash flow. According to the company’s latest quarterly earnings, free cash flow fell 91 per cent to $784 million in the second quarter from $8.55 billion a year earlier, marking its lowest level since 2022.

Free cash flow refers to the money a company has remaining after covering operating expenses and long-term investments such as infrastructure and data centres.

Meta also raised the lower end of its 2026 capital expenditure forecast from $125 billion to $130 billion as it accelerates spending on AI infrastructure. Following the results, the company’s shares fell around 10 per cent.

Reports indicate that Meta plans to double its computing capacity to seven gigawatts this year and 14 gigawatts next year. The company currently has 32 data centres that are operational or under construction.

Google Also Increasing AI Investment

Meta is not alone in ramping up AI spending. Alphabet, Google’s parent company, recently reported negative free cash flow of $5.9 billion in the second quarter, the first such occurrence in more than two decades, as it continues investing heavily in artificial intelligence.

Zuckerberg said Meta intends to generate higher returns by selling AI-powered intelligence rather than simply renting computing capacity to customers.

WhatsApp to Play Bigger Role

Zuckerberg said messaging platforms, particularly WhatsApp, would become increasingly important as users begin interacting with multiple AI agents.

He described WhatsApp as Meta AI’s largest platform and indicated that Instagram would receive additional AI features in the future.

Meta has also introduced new AI models this year, including the Muse Spark 1.1 and Muse Image models, developed by the company’s Meta Superintelligence Labs led by Alexandr Wang.

Beyond AI, Meta continues to absorb losses from its Reality Labs division, which oversees its augmented and virtual reality products. The division reported a quarterly loss of about $4.6 billion and has accumulated operating losses exceeding $80 billion since 2021. The company also incurred severance costs after laying off around 8,000 employees, or about 10 per cent of its workforce, in May this year.

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