Again, light shines on AI during Meta's Q2 earnings report with the latter reporting positive growth in user and revenue numbers for the quarter.

Users: "Family Daily Active People" increased 7% year-over-year to 3.27 billion in Q2.
Meta added 30 million more users across its apps in the period; however, we do not know where these users were active.

That's because Meta now only reports its "Family" performance results, which rolls all users across Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp into a single measure. We therefore don't have a specific breakdown of each, and hence are unable to report on those trends, but we do know that WhatsApp has seen a surge in U.S. usage of late.

Meta has propped up Facebook and Instagram usage by iterating on its AI-powered recommendations, which now pack so much more video clips of posts from the profiles you don't follow. This has frustrated some users, as they are irritated that they are seeing those random updates, not the posts from the accounts they have chosen to follow, but it does show people are spending more time within each app as a result of being shown enticing video clips based on their interests.

So whether you like it or not, AI recommendation is here to stay. Also, the Twitter-like Threads app has continued its steady growth among other user groups.

On the revenue side, Meta took in $39.07 billion for the quarter, which was up 22% year-over-year.
A good sign for Meta is that it's increasing revenue intake in its key markets, U.S. and Europe, while also growing in new regions with more people signing up. I suppose the negative side of WhatsApp growth is it presents fewer ad opportunities, but clearly Meta is supplementing this with more revenue potential in its other apps.

Meta reports ad impressions served across its family of apps at 10% higher year-over-year, also the average price for an ad.

So more ads, at higher prices, reflecting ongoing demand, which speaks well for Meta's future for some time. As such, it will also enable to keep investing in AI and VR, where it's still sinking billions of dollars.
Meta lost another $4.5 billion in its Reality Labs VR division during the quarter, as it continues to invest in both VR and AI projects. So far, this puts it in a higher loss rate compared to what it had last year when it sank a record $17 billion into the same.

Total costs and expenses at Meta were $24.22 billion in Q2, up 7% from the same quarter last year, having been weighed down by its new AI data centre.
So Meta is still investing very heavily in the future of the business, and its metaverse vision, based in VR, is still weighing down its current performance. And while Meta's VR headsets sell steadily, they are not a must-have item as yet while its Ray Ban Stories glasses also gain momentum, as an early connector to its tech.

But it remains to be seen how Meta will be able to actually fold all its various long bets into a more integrated, cohesive platform at some later date.

For me, anyway, the really important opportunity is for Meta to integrate generative AI into creation in VR so that users can simply speak whole virtual worlds into existence. VR, being very technically intensive in its development, is still very niche today-but if Meta can ease in to make this possible for more, giving more people the doorway into VR creation, then that should really energize their metaverse vision, since virtually anybody will be able to create with more immersive tech.

That may be the play that finally gets VR uptake flying. Meta's next AR glasses also promise to be both more practical and popular than Apple's VisionPro headset.

Indeed, Meta's also now looking to invest around $5 billion into EssilorLuxottica, the maker of Ray Ban sunglasses, in order to ensure that competitors can't utilize the same stylistic frames, while also securing a valuable distribution pathway for its coming AR offering.

This success path is only starting to get clearer, and some time yet will be required for investment to continue ahead.

And while that may weigh down Meta's near-term results, it also will pave the way for future opportunities that investors should be willing to come along for the ride.

Essentially, at this point, I wouldn't be betting against Zuck and Co getting their various projects to merge into line. And while AI chatbots are not, I don't think, the right way to go for Meta's apps, a lot of these innovations are about shifting behaviors gradually, in alignment with what's coming. So even if you personally don't see the value of AI bots, maybe, the next generation of Facebook and IG users will.

There is much to be liked about Meta's numbers and a lot of indication for future success on several fronts, although it's not all clear-cut as yet. And, naturally, there will be more regulatory concerns and challenges that Zuck and his team will need to navigate.

But based on this report, you can see why Zuck seems more relaxed with the future direction of the company.