How to try Meta AI in France today?

A more advanced language model and a new chatbot. Meta, the parent company of Facebook, launched a major offensive in generative artificial intelligence on April 18, 2024. Objective: to encourage the three billion Internet users who are registered on its services to use its AI tools, rather than those of competition.

But Meta AI still needs to be available worldwide to be able to achieve this goal. However, by going to the Meta AI site from France, it is impossible to access the conversational agent. A message, in English, indicates that “ Meta AI is not yet available in your country “. This, whether you are connected or not.

Currently, access to Meta AI is restricted to a handful of countries. In its announcement message, the American company listed fourteen, located all over the world: South Africa, Australia, Canada, the United States, Ghana, Jamaica, Malawi , Nigeria, New Zealand, Pakistan, Singapore, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

A specific legal framework in the EU

North America, Asia, Oceania, Africa… but not South America or even Europe. The unavailability of Meta AI in Europe is mainly due to the legal framework that governs personal data and AI – a framework that has already played tricks on other services, like Threads or Bard, launched late in the EU.

This particularity had already been mentioned during the Meta AI Innovation Day, which took place on April 10. The event, which took place in Paris, welcomed Yann Le Cun, who serves as chief scientist in the company, and Joëlle Pineau, vice-president of AI research. Both had the opportunity to talk about it.

So, it is “ the complexity of the local and legal landscape » which causes a delay in the launch of this type of product, according to Yann Le Cun, who struck people’s minds with his critical presentation of generative AI. Same thing for Joëlle Pineau, who mentioned “ legal issues ” Who ” add a level of difficulty “.

Joëlle Pineau, however, added another element which weighed in the balance: “ From a cultural point of view, we want to avoid deploying a product that has no value. Most models are developed in an American context. » If we reread the press release on Meta AI, it is actually specified that the tool currently only manages English.

When you try to connect to Meta AI despite everything, a window warns the Internet user that “ [ses] messages with AIs can be used to improve AI at Meta “. It is also specified that continuing the connection means accepting several contracts: the general rules of Meta, those of Meta for AI and the confidentiality policy.

Numerous rules which are likely to create friction with European laws – in particular the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). It is also within the European Union that the AI ​​Act is emerging, which is the first major legislation to curb artificial intelligence and its use.

How to try Meta AI in France?

As it stands, the use of Meta AI in France is impossible. However, there is one option to consider: using a VPN to trick Meta into thinking you reside in one of the permitted countries. Numerama was able to test it twice, connecting from the USA and from Canada. Each time, Meta AI has been accessible.

Numerama has a comparison of around ten VPNs which all give you the possibility of going through third-party servers before accessing the VPN. In particular, you can choose the country through which you wish to pass. Each service offers several dozen countries as destinations. Please note: you will still have to accept Meta’s rules and be connected to your Facebook account.

Once the connection is established on the Meta AI site, you will find yourself with an English interface very similar to ChatGPT, Gemini or Le Chat de Mistral. Note that it is possible to speak to him in French, but he will respond in English. Creating images is also, like Midjourney, by typing the “imagine” instruction beforehand.

Subscribe to Numerama on Google News so you don’t miss any news!