Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg Predicts 1 Billion AI Agent Users Worldwide

Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg has predicted that nearly 1 billion people across the globe will leverage an AI agent in the near future, strengthening artificial intelligence’s influence across societies.

He sees AI agents as a breakthrough, with his company expected to earn a major part of its income from such products, just as the rapid expansion of smartphones helped social media engagement surge. Meta’s products and services are expected to be increasingly based on AI agents in the coming years.

The announcement has come amid Meta’s underwhelming position in the AI race, with the company yet to launch a flagship AI product despite making heavy investments in the sector.

Meta reported a muted second-quarter result, with free cash flow down 91% to $784 million. This was reflected in the stock market, with the company’s shares plunging about 10% after it released its Q2 results. However, Zuckerberg appears optimistic about AI’s potential, as the company raised the lower end of its 2026 capital expenditure guidance from $125 billion to $130 billion, with total capex guidance now in the range of $130 billion to $145 billion.

The increased investment underscores Meta’s strategy of building large-scale AI infrastructure, including data centres, advanced computing systems, and AI models capable of powering personalised digital assistants. The company has also been expanding its AI talent pool and integrating generative AI features across its social media and messaging platforms.

Zuckerberg’s comments come at a time when global technology companies are competing aggressively to develop AI agents that can perform tasks such as scheduling, research, customer support, content creation, and online commerce. Analysts believe the next phase of AI adoption could be driven by personal AI assistants, making the race to build reliable and widely used AI agents one of the most significant battlegrounds in the technology industry.