Meta To Be ‘Dramatically’ Reshaped By AI This Year — Mark Zuckerberg Is Betting Big On It

• Meta stock rose nearly 7% in the after-hours session on Wednesday, following the company’s report.
• Zuckerberg detailed how Meta is working on more personalized feeds, AI monetization, and AI-led corporate efficiency initiatives.
• Meta plans to spend 73% higher on capex this year.

Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg expects AI to “dramatically” reshape the company’s business this year, outlining how recent advances are poised to power new products and features, sharpen recommendations and personalization across its platforms, and drive company-wide efficiencies. 

“We are now seeing a major AI acceleration. I expect 2026 to be a year where this wave accelerates even further on several fronts,” Zuckerberg said on the post-earnings analyst call.

Strong Results 

Meta reported fourth-quarter revenue and profit that beat Wall Street’s expectations, and forecast 2026 capital expenditure of $115 billion to $135 billion, up from $72.22 billion in 2025. Meta stock rallied 6.6% in the after-market trading, also lifting shares of peer ad-supported companies Alphabet, Pinterest, and Reddit between 1.6% to 2.6%.
 

META trended at number 2 on Stocktwits late Wednesday, with its retail sentiment reading climbing multiple points higher in the ‘extremely bullish’ zone (92/100). 

AI Dominates Zuck’s Call

AI dominated Zuckerberg’s opening remarks. On the product front, he said AI agents “really work,” and would “unlock the ability to build completely new products and transform how we work.” Last year, Meta set up its Super Intelligence Labs, a dedicated unit to spearhead the company’s AI push, hiring aggressively and snapping up a string of acquisitions to rapidly bolster its capabilities.

Zuckerberg said Meta would continue to ship new AI models at a rapid clip. “We're also working on merging LLMs with the recommendation systems that power Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and our ad system,” he said.

Feed on Instagram, Facebook, and Threads would become more interactive and personalized, and would also feature a range of new interactive content formats, Zuckerberg said.

A TechCrunch report earlier this week said Meta is testing paid subscriptions for its social media apps, including WhatsApp, that would offer users exclusive features. While Zuckerberg did not explicitly confirm or deny it, he said the company is working to monetize Meta AI, “both in terms of subscriptions and advertising.”

The first of the Big Tech companies to report this quarter, Meta has set a high bar for fellow social media companies and Google. Alphabet and Snap will report on Feb 4, Reddit on Feb. 5, and Pinterest on Feb 12.

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