Facebook-owner Meta (NASDAQ:FB) is working on Artificial Intelligence (AI) research to generate worlds through speech, improve how people chat to voice assistants, and translate between languages.
The company announced Wednesday it is building a voice assistant to help people interact hands-free with physical devices like the company's portal video-calling device and, eventually, augmented-reality glasses.
Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg said that the company's Project CAIRaoke is "a fully end-to-end neural model for building on-device assistants," and is betting that the metaverse, a futuristic idea of virtual environments where users can work, socialize and play, will be the successor to the mobile internet.
AI head Jérôme Pesenti told Reuters Meta is exploring how artificial intelligence can be used to moderate content and activity in the metaverse. While still undefined, Meta video demos of the metaverse concept show people moving around digital spaces and interacting with other avatars.
Meta further said that it would develop free education initiatives aimed at bringing more racial minorities into tech, which researchers say is critical to creating AI systems free of bias.
OPINION
However, these technologies are years away from being publicly available in most cases since its AI voice assistant on Portal devices is currently only tested for simple uses, like setting reminders.
Moreover, the project follows similar innovations announced in recent years by rivals like Alphabet's Google Inc. and voice assistants similar to Amazon's Alexa and Apple's Siri.
The social media company, which recently lost a third of its market value after a bleak earnings report, has invested heavily in its new focus on building the metaverse. In February, Meta reported a 2021 net loss of $10.2 billion from its augmented and virtual reality business, Reality Labs.
PRICE ACTION: On Wednesday afternoon, FB shares traded lower by 1.03% at $200. Consensus among analysts is a Moderate Buy based on 32 Buys, 11 Holds, and 1 Sell. The average Meta Platform price target of $332.14 implies an upside potential of 64.36% to current levels.
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