After the latest update, Meta AI started popping up in my Facebook search and conversations, and it’s getting pretty annoying. I’ve looked through settings but can’t find an option to turn it off. Has anyone figured out how to remove or hide Meta AI features? Any help would be appreciated.
Let me tell ya, Meta AI popping into every corner of my Facebook experience has me feeling like I’m being followed by a really needy Clippy from the old Microsoft days, except Clippy at least ASKED if you needed help. There’s no official “off” switch – trust me, I absolutely scoured the settings like I was defusing a bomb, but Facebook’s like, “Nah, you’re getting this AI BFF whether you want it or not.”
If you’re hoping for some magic toggle button, don’t hold your breath. Right now, best you can do is what I call the Triple D: Deny, Distract, and Dodge. Deny Meta AI by avoiding its prompts, distract yourself by searching directly for friends or pages instead of generic queries (avoids triggering the bot), and dodge its suggestions like you’re Neo in the Matrix. If you’re in chats and the Meta AI bar shows up, you can sometimes tap the little “i” or settings to shrink or minimize, but the option to remove it entirely is just not there.
Rumor has it enough people are annoyed and complaining in the Help sections and review boards, but you know how fast Facebook moves on user feedback (spoiler: they don’t). So until they maybe—maaaaybe—add a disable feature (and that feels about as likely as getting a chronological feed back), it’s just another thing taking up real estate, like FarmVille invitations back in the day.
In the meantime, if anyone has some secret hack that actually works beyond browser extensions or 3rd-party apps (which are mostly sketchy or get patched fast), please give us hope. For now, we’re all just unwilling Meta AI beta testers, like it or not.
Not to totally disagree with @espritlibre here, but I actually don’t mind Clippy-level helpfulness if I can just make it stop. But Meta really does NOT want us to—at this point, Facebook has basically shoved Meta AI into our feeds like an overeager puppy tracking mud everywhere. No, there isn’t official way to permanently turn it off, no secret toggle buried in settings, and your only real “control” is minimizing or ignoring it after the fact (which is hardly satisfying).
But here’s where I split hairs from what’s already been said: I’ve tried using browser add-ons and script blockers to keep AI elements away, and while some kinda worked for a hot second, they get nuked by FB updates instantly. Also high key, some of those browser hacks are shady as heck and not worth the risk of getting your account locked or info stolen over a mildly less irritating search bar.
What I want to know is—does anybody actually USE the Meta AI on purpose? Like, is it helpful to anyone, or is it just another one of those “features” FB forces into existence whether it improves your experience or not? Maybe if enough people just straight up fire off feedback every time it pops up, we’d see change. But let’s be real: Facebook’s got a track record of ignoring this kinda thing longer than they ignored all those FarmVille cows blocking my feed back in 2009.
If you’re desperate, only real “solution” is boring old self-discipline: train your eyes to completely tune out all traces of Meta AI and pretend it’s not even there. Not satisfying, but works until (if ever) they let us control our own experience again.