Meta Is Testing AI Chatbots That Text You First 💬

Welcome to another edition of Horizon AI,

The next time you get a message notification on the Facebook Messenger app or WhatsApp, it might be from an AI chatbot, as Meta is exploring new ways to keep people engaged.

Let’s take a look!

Read Time: 4.5 min

Here's what's new today in the Horizon AI

• Meta Tests AI Chatbots That Message You First

• Europe’s Top CEOs Urge EU to Hit Pause on AI Act

• AI Tutorial: Visualize how an outfit would look on you with AI

• AI Tools to check out

• AI Findings/Resources

• The Latest in AI and Tech 💡

AI News

META

Meta Tests AI Chatbots That Message You First

According to a series of leaked internal documents, Meta is testing a new strategy in which its chatbots not only remember past conversations with users to make interactions feel more personal, but also initiate chats on their own.

Details:

• Meta’s AI bots would be able to send unsolicited messages on platforms like Messenger, WhatsApp, and Instagram. For example, one of the AI personas named 'The Maestro of Movie Magic' would ask users about their favorite soundtracks or suggest films.

• They will only send follow-ups if users have interacted with them at least five times within 14 days after initiating the convo; they won’t keep messaging if there’s no response to the first follow-up.

• Users can keep their bots private or share them through stories, direct links, or even display them on their Facebook or Instagram profiles.

• Mark Zuckerberg recently said that AI companions could be a potential fix for the "loneliness epidemic," and this effort seems aligned with that vision.

However, some people point out that since much of Meta’s business relies on advertising revenue—using algorithms to keep people scrolling, commenting, and liking—this may just be another strategy to boost engagement and ad exposure, while also raising concerns about safety, especially for younger users.

Source

AI REGULATION

Europe’s Top CEOs Urge EU to Hit Pause on AI Act

A group of 46 CEOs from Europe’s biggest companies is asking the European Union to delay the implementation of the AI Act.

Details:

• In an open letter, they argue that "unclear, overlapping and increasingly complex EU regulations" are making it harder to innovate and compete globally.

• The group wanted the pause to apply both to the provisions on general-purpose AI taking effect on August 2, and to systems classified as high-risk, which must comply with the rules by August 2026.

• Leaders from major companies like Airbus, TotalEnergies, Lufthansa, ASML, and Mistral signed the letter.

The effort received a very quick response from the European Union, which said today that it will stick to its timeline for implementing its landmark AI legislation: "There is no stop the clock. There is no grace period. There is no pause."

Source

AI Tutorial

Visualize how an outfit would look on you with AI

Google recently released a new experimental app that can create AI-generated clips of you wearing outfits you find online—not just static images—giving you an even better sense of how an outfit might feel.

*Note: The tool is only available in the U.S. for now.

1. Download the Doppl app on Android or iOS.

2. Upload a full-body photo of yourself.

3. Upload photos or screenshots of any outfit you like, whether it's from a friend, a local thrift shop, or something you saw on social media.

4. Once you select an outfit to visualize, Doppl will create an image of a virtual version of you wearing it.

5. You can then turn this static image into an AI-generated video by tapping the animation button. It will generate a random animation of you striking a different pose, doing a spin, or similar movements.

6. You can also save or share your best looks with friends or followers.

AI Tools to check out

🧠 Mindly: A privacy-first second brain that helps you connect and organize your ideas using AI.

🚀 Klero: AI assistants & docs for startup teams & founders.

📹 Supawork: Create professional, entertaining AI videos in seconds.

👉 Dynbox: Effortlessly organize all your cloud and local files by chatting with an AI—or let the tool handle it automatically in the background.

✨ Pixlr: Edit photos, generate images, and design freely with powerful AI tools.

AI Findings/Resources

📽 An amazing AI-generated concept trailer for a new series.

📝 A guide to coding agents

🤔 The new skill in AI is not prompting, It's context engineering

💼 Marc Andreessen’s career advice for the AI era

👀 Vinod Khosla explains how AI will replace most jobs by 2040 and how you can stay ahead

The latest in AI and Tech

Grok will soon let you build and create games

This game creation ability is expected to arrive with the Grok 4 model, which is set to launch in a few days.

Billionaire Mark Cuban predicts who will become the world’s first trillionaire

Entrepreneur and investor Mark Cuban says AI has the potential to make 'just one dude in a basement' the world’s first trillionaire.

Ilya Sutskever becomes CEO of Safe Superintelligence

The announcement comes after Meta poached Daniel Gross, a longtime entrepreneur and AI investor who had been serving as the company’s CEO.

In a post on X, Sutskever said Gross’s time at the company had been 'winding down,' and that his last day was June 29.

Elon Musk's xAI issued permits for 15 natural gas turbines at Memphis data center

The decision follows legal threats from the Southern Environmental Law Center, which claims xAI violated the Clean Air Act by running generators without permits. While the new permit includes emissions controls, concerns about pollution levels and insufficient air quality testing persist.

That’s a wrap!

Thanks for sticking with us to the end! Let’s stay connected on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Not subscribed yet? Sign up here and send it to a colleague or friend!

See you in our next edition!

Gina 👩🏻‍💻