Meta is launching a new business selling AI tools to enterprise customers, seeking new returns from its enormous technology investment. The parent of Facebook and Instagram announced the new arm would bring together products including its Muse personal assistant and coding tools, alongside access to advanced AI models. Chirantan "CJ" Desai, chief executive of database group Mongo DB, will helm the new business unit and report directly to Mark Zuckerberg. "We are starting the next major pillar of our business, Meta Enterprise Platform, to help businesses use AI to grow and transform in new ways as well," said Zuckerberg.

The move comes as Zuckerberg seeks to turn Meta's vast spending on artificial intelligence into new sources of revenue beyond its core advertising business. The company plans to spend as much as $145bn in capital expenditure this year, much of it on data centre infrastructure and advanced models underpinning its AI push. Meta's shares rallied sharply following the success of Muse, its new AI assistant, but fell 4 per cent on the announcement.

Mongo DB shares dropped nearly 20 per cent after Desai's departure was revealed. Zuckerberg has insisted that Meta's AI investments will bolster its core advertising business while creating new profit engines. The easy-to-use Muse app offers consumers a team of autonomous bots to carry out everyday tasks, such as ordering groceries and booking travel.

Zuckerberg previously discussed selling excess data centre capacity to customers, moving to compete with cloud computing giants including Amazon and Microsoft.