# Meta AI 21 Hacker News commenters recommended Meta AI and 80 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 9 of 13 months. **Verdict:** Free chatbot praised for clear explanations, fast cheap models and WhatsApp access. Critics cite political bias in image generation and privacy and security lapses. ## Why people recommend it - Fast and cheap models (2 comments): "The new meta model is fast and very cheap as well" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49625917)) "Meta's models have been so impressive (and cheap)" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50061125)) - Clear, readable technical writing (2 comments): "Meta is really good at turning a technical mess into a story that paints a picture in my head." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48910218)) "Its writing style feels "unique", and I find it pleasant to read for science-based topics." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48850176)) - Strong on technical and product tasks (4 comments): "I've found Meta's latest model to be the best at product discovery." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47849762)) "even 1.5 years old Mistral and Meta models outperform ChatGPT 3" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47296108)) "meta.ai in instant mode gets it first try too (I think?)" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47753361)) ## What people warn about - Political bias in image generation (4 comments): "it will happily generate images featuring the right-wing candidate, logo or party number, while consistently refusing to generate anything related to the opposition" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50160630)) "made it about voting for Bolsonaro unprompted, then when asked to make one for Lula said it couldn't make one for political candidates" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50248554)) "A small filter in Meta AI blocking image generation for one of the candidates is now generating an uproar." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50093851)) - Privacy and data handling concerns (4 comments): "Meta making claims like "private" and "even Meta can't see." lol. Has the credibility debt of an org around a specific issue ever been higher?" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48143152)) "dormant facial recognition pipeline quietly sitting inside the Meta AI app earlier this year, built and shipped without anyone opting in" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49346261)) "pretending a conversation comes into their network and gets processed on their systems, yet they can’t read it" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48133141)) - Security flaws and account hacks (4 comments): "Tool calls for agents that have their output potentially influenced by an attacker should be treated like external APIs that anyone can reach" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48360249)) "It seems pretty trivial to just add a check in the agent's tool call to determine if the email is actually the one on file" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48378677)) "Logging in is broken. It redirects to https://meta.ai/?error=Token%20exchange%20failed and doesn't show any error message." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47695589)) - Misleading claims and dark patterns (2 comments): "Typical meta move, throwing a dark pattern at you from the beginning instead of just letting you try it" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47699868)) "Meta's models are not even open weights, and yet they are claiming that their models are open source." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49012247)) ## Alternatives hackers recommend - [Claude](https://hackerapproved.com/p/claude.md): 5175 recommend - [Google Gemini](https://hackerapproved.com/p/gemini.md): 2195 recommend - [ChatGPT](https://hackerapproved.com/p/chatgpt.md): 2186 recommend - [Grok](https://hackerapproved.com/p/grok.md): 727 recommend - [Microsoft Copilot](https://hackerapproved.com/p/microsoft-copilot.md): 139 recommend ## Where to get it - [Visit the official site](https://www.meta.ai/) ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "Meta AI", https://hackerapproved.com/p/meta-ai/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).