Meta expands AI-based advertising tools.

Meta Platforms Inc. is rolling out a new generative AI tool for all advertisers, expanding on earlier functionality tests that allow marketers to create images and text more quickly.

Meta's tool uses artificial intelligence to generate background images for products, create different ad copies, or automatically adjust ad sizes to fit Instagram or Facebook. The new feature will be available to marketers in Meta's Ad Manager and will be globally accessible by next year, the company said on Wednesday.

Prior to this, Meta allowed a select group of advertisers to test these tools in the "AI Sandbox" launched in May. Publicis Groupe and Media Monks were among the early participating ad agencies. According to a survey conducted by Meta, 50% of advertisers expressed a desire for these tools to save them five or more hours of ad creation time per week.

Meta has been steadily integrating AI into its advertising products to improve performance and compensate for the loss of targeted data due to privacy changes by Apple. In May, the company also launched Meta Lattice, which helps businesses predict ad performance.

Meta's efforts to drive its advertising business appear to be paying off. In the quarter ending June 30, the company's digital ad revenue grew by 12%, and its stock price reached an 18-month high. The company also predicts a 20% increase in sales in the period ending September, driven by AI spending, revenue from the short video product Reels, and improvements in ad targeting.