Meta is widening its use of artificial intelligence on Facebook with a new search feature called AI Mode and several creative tools designed to keep users engaged inside the app.

The company said Monday that AI Mode will let people ask questions in natural language and receive answers generated from public content across Facebook, including posts in Groups and Reels. Rather than relying on a standard list of search results, the feature uses Meta AI to summarize what people are discussing on the platform.

The update is part of Meta’s larger effort to make Facebook more useful while also closing the gap with rivals in the AI race. It also arrives after the company quietly introduced Forum, a Reddit-style app that has its own Ask tab built around questions and answers from Facebook Group conversations.

That approach raises a familiar issue for AI products built on user-generated content: accuracy. Because the system draws from public posts and group discussions instead of verified reference material, it could surface outdated, incomplete or misleading information. Similar concerns have been raised about other AI search tools that summarize online conversations.

Meta is also adding a range of editing features to Facebook. One set of tools lets people create collage cutouts and apply transition effects to video montages. Another uses AI to generate photo presets that change a person’s appearance in different ways, including clothing, hairstyles and accessories.

The company highlighted a sports-related example, saying users can virtually wear team jerseys through the AI Edit option in Stories. Meta also said people can go to their profile picture to restyle it with AI and choose wardrobe-related options.

These features build on a steady rollout of AI products across Facebook in recent months. In February, Meta added animated profile pictures and AI-generated backgrounds for text posts. In March, it introduced a Marketplace feature that can automatically respond to buyer messages for sellers. Earlier this month, the company launched an AI assistant for creators that provides suggestions such as the best time to post and summaries of audience reactions in the comments.

Taken together, the updates show Meta continuing to push AI deeper into its apps. The company appears to be using the technology not only to make Facebook more interactive, but also to support its broader business goals.

That strategy now includes paid offerings. Meta recently rolled out subscription plans for Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp that start at $3.99 a month, with additional AI-focused subscription tiers reportedly in development.

For Meta, the challenge is not only building AI features quickly, but making them useful enough to hold attention on a platform that still competes for time against other social apps and search tools. AI Mode suggests the company believes conversational search, built from the content already flowing through Facebook, may help do that.

Whether users trust the answers enough to rely on them remains an open question.