Matt Steiner, Meta’s vice president of monetization infrastructure, ranking, and AI foundations, is leading a transformative effort in digital advertising through artificial intelligence. Steiner oversees a massive 2,000-person product and engineering organization focused on leveraging AI and machine learning to revolutionize Meta’s advertising platform.
AI has been instrumental in Meta’s recent resurgence, particularly in addressing challenges created by Apple’s 2021 privacy update that significantly impacted ad targeting and measurement capabilities. Steiner’s team has developed innovative solutions to overcome these obstacles, creating sophisticated AI systems that have restored and enhanced Meta’s advertising effectiveness.
One of the key innovations under Steiner’s leadership involves large AI models capable of supporting multiple inputs and prediction outputs across different advertiser objectives. These advanced systems can simultaneously optimize for various goals, whether advertisers are seeking clicks, conversions, sales, or other performance metrics. This multi-objective approach represents a significant advancement in advertising technology, allowing for more sophisticated campaign optimization.
Steiner’s organization is also integrating AI directly into Meta’s self-service Ads Manager product, democratizing access to advanced advertising capabilities for businesses of all sizes. This integration helps advertisers drive better performance without requiring deep technical expertise, making sophisticated AI-powered advertising accessible to a broader range of businesses.
The impact of these AI initiatives has been substantial. Meta reported in July that more than 1 million advertisers had used at least one of its generative AI ad features in the previous month, demonstrating widespread adoption and the practical value these tools provide to businesses. This milestone underscores how quickly AI-powered advertising tools have become essential to Meta’s platform and its advertiser base.
Steiner’s inclusion in Business Insider’s AI Power List recognizes his significant influence in shaping how artificial intelligence is applied to digital advertising at scale. His work represents the intersection of cutting-edge AI research and practical business applications, demonstrating how machine learning can solve real-world challenges while driving business growth for both Meta and its advertising partners.
Our Take
Steiner’s leadership exemplifies how AI is transitioning from a research curiosity to a business imperative. The 2,000-person organization he leads represents one of the largest concentrated efforts in applied AI, demonstrating Meta’s commitment to machine learning as core infrastructure rather than peripheral innovation.
What’s particularly noteworthy is the democratization aspect—integrating sophisticated AI into self-service tools. This pattern of making advanced AI accessible through simple interfaces will likely define the next wave of AI adoption across industries. The million-advertiser milestone isn’t just a usage metric; it’s evidence that AI can deliver tangible business value at scale.
Steiner’s work also illustrates how AI can be a defensive and offensive technology simultaneously—defending against privacy restrictions while creating new capabilities. This dual role will become increasingly important as regulatory pressures intensify globally.
Why This Matters
Matt Steiner’s work at Meta represents a critical case study in how AI is reshaping digital advertising and the broader technology industry. His team’s success in using AI to overcome Apple’s privacy restrictions demonstrates how machine learning can adapt to regulatory and platform changes that might otherwise devastate business models.
The scale of adoption—over 1 million advertisers using generative AI features—signals that AI in advertising has moved beyond experimental phases into mainstream business practice. This has profound implications for small and medium-sized businesses that can now access sophisticated targeting and optimization previously available only to large enterprises with dedicated data science teams.
For the AI industry, Steiner’s work showcases practical applications of large language models and multi-objective optimization at unprecedented scale. The ability to process multiple inputs and optimize for various outcomes simultaneously represents significant technical advancement that could influence AI development beyond advertising.
This also highlights the competitive dynamics in tech, where AI capabilities are becoming the primary differentiator. Meta’s advertising recovery through AI innovation demonstrates how companies can leverage machine learning to maintain market position despite external challenges, setting expectations for AI investment across the industry.
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Source: https://www.businessinsider.com/matt-steiner-meta-ads-ai-power-list-2024