The founder and CEO of the Facebook group Meta, Mark Zuckerberg is pictured in Menlo Park. Andrej Sokolow/dpa

Meta is stepping up its push to become a global leader in artificial intelligence (AI), with chief executive Mark Zuckerberg unveiling ambitions to build “personal superintelligence for everyone in the world.”

Zuckerberg made the remarks as the company reported stronger-than-expected second-quarter results on Wednesday, driven by a booming advertising business on Facebook and Instagram.

He said Meta has begun to see early signs of AI systems capable of self-improvement — an important step toward what the company defines as superintelligence, or AI that exceeds human capabilities across the board.

“The improvement is slow for now, but undeniable. Developing superintelligence is now in sight,” he said.

Meta, which has long used AI to personalize user feeds on Facebook and Instagram, said improved recommendation algorithms drove a 5% increase in user time on Facebook and 6% on Instagram last quarter.

Meta raises AI investment plans

The Facebook parent announced it expects to make investments of at least $66 billion this year, primarily in AI data centres, maintaining an upper limit of $72 billion. Three months ago, the company’s projected minimum investment was $64 billion.

Zuckerberg has been aggressively courting top AI talent and is seeking to surpass rivals including ChatGPT developer OpenAI, Google, and Elon Musk’s xAI.

Robust financial results are expected to power Meta’s AI ambitions.

In the second quarter, Meta’s revenue rose 22% year-on-year to $47.5 billion, while net income jumped 36% to about $18.3 billion, beating market expectations.

For the current quarter, Meta forecasts revenue between $47.5 billion and $50.5 billion, above market expectations of around $46 billion.

Meta shares rose almost 12% in after-hours trading.