Facebook extended its reach beyond
online socializing by building artificial-
intelligence powered “bots” into its
Messenger application to allow
businesses to have software engage in
lifelike text exchanges.
The move announced at the leading
online social network’s annual
developers conference in San Francisco
came as the number of monthly users
of Messenger topped 900 million and
the Silicon Valley company works to
stay in tune with mobile Internet
lifestyles.
“We think you should be able to text
message a business like you would a
friend, and get a quick response,”
Facebook co-founder and chief Mark
Zuckerberg said as he announced that
developers can build bots that could
even be better than real people at
natural language text conversations.
Bots are software infused with the
ability to “learn” from conversations,
getting better at figuring out what
people are telling them and how best to
respond.
The bots could help Facebook over time
monetize its messaging applications and
get a start on what some see as a new
way of interacting with the digital
world, potentially shortcutting mobile
applications and sidestepping search.
“Our goal with artificial intelligence is
to build systems that are better than
people at perception — seeing, hearing,
language and so on,” Zuckerberg said
while laying out a long-term vision for
Facebook.
A look at the number and types of
services that titans such as Facebook,
Google and Apple have rolled out in the
last couple of years, it appears the
companies are “trying to dominate the
customers’ mobile moments,” Forrester
analyst Julie Ask told AFP.
– Getting smarter –
Artificial intelligence is already used in
Messenger to recognize faces in
pictures, suggesting recipients for
messages and for filtering out spam
texts.
“Soon, we are going to be able to do
even more,” Zuckerberg said.
He promised a future in which
Facebook AI would be able to
understand what is in pictures, video or
news articles and use insights to
recommend content members of the
social network might like.
Bot-building capabilities will be in a
test mode with Facebook approving
creations before they are released,
according to vice president of
messaging products David Marcus.
Some of the latest tools include one for
the creation of “high-end, self-learning
bots,” along with ways for them to be
brought to people’s attention at
Messenger, Marcus said.
“If you want to build more complex
bots, you can now use our bot engine,”
Marcus told a packed audience of
developers.
“You feed it samples of conversation,
and it’s better over time. You can build
your bot today.”
The list of partners launching
Messenger bots included Business
Insider, which said it will use the
technology to deliver news stories to
people in real-time.
“We are excited about this new offering
because we know that messaging apps
are exploding in popularity,” Business
Insider said in a story at its website
announcing the move.
Cloud computing star Salesforce
planned to use the platform to help
businesses have “deeper, more
personalized and one-to-one customer
journeys within the chat experience,”
said Salesforce president and chief
product officer Alex Dayon.
– Bridges, not walls –
Zuckerberg laid out a future for
Facebook that, aside from Messenger,
included ramping up live video
streaming and diving into virtual
reality.
“We think we are at the edge of the
golden age of video,” Zuckerberg said.
Facebook opened its Live platform to
allow developers to stream video
content from their applications to
audiences at the social network.
Zuckerberg demonstrated with a drone
that flew over those seated, streaming
live video to Facebook while he spoke.
Messenger and Live will be built out
further in coming years, along with
virtual reality technology at Facebook-
owned Oculus, according to Zuckerberg.
When his daughter takes her first steps,
Zuckerberg said he planned to record it
in 360-degree video so family and
friends can experience it in virtual
reality as if they were there for the
moment.
At one point, Zuckerberg’s comments
took on a political tone, with the
Facebook chief maintaining that the
mission to connect the world is more
important than ever given rhetoric
about building walls and fearing those
who are different.
“If the world starts to turn inward, then
our community will have to work even
harder to bring people together,”
Zuckerberg said.
“Instead of building walls, we can build
bridges,” he added, in an apparent
reference to the fiery rhetoric of
Donald Trump.
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