Meta in talks to use Google’s Gemini to improve ad business, The Information reports

META staffers have had discussions with Alphabet’s Google Cloud about the possibility of using its Gemini models to improve the Facebook parent’s ad business, The Information reported on Thursday.

The talks are still in relatively early stages and may not result in an agreement, the report said, citing people with knowledge of the conversations.

Alphabet declined to comment, while Meta did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

The Meta employees have proposed fine-tuning rival Google’s Gemini and open-source Gemma models on Meta’s ad data to improve its ad targeting capabilities, the report said.

The Instagram and WhatsApp owner’s move to pick Google’s AI over its own in-house models underscores the issues the company has had with scaling AI technology, despite the billions of dollars it has spent on research, infrastructure and talent.

Meta and Google directly compete in the online advertising market. In their most recent quarterly earnings reports both companies said that their investments in AI are fuelling gains in their core ad businesses.

Meta had already been considering partnerships with Google or ChatGPT maker OpenAI to improve AI features, including conversational responses for queries on its chatbot Meta AI and to power AI features in Meta’s social media apps, The Information reported last month. REUTERS