Facebook recently announced a new artificial intelligence system called Deep Text, which can understand text with “near-human” levels of accuracy. Essentially, this system will be able to understand what a post means. For example, if someone were to mention needing a ride to a friend through Facebook Messenger, Deep Text will bring up a “Request a Ride” button and will offer either an Uber or Lyft.
Quartz, a digital news outlet, declared this to be extremely useful for businesses because it offers a new way into minds of consumers. As a brand/product is discussed, companies can use the information collected by Deep Text to further customer satisfaction through improvements. With the capacity to categorize and provide meaning for text, this structure can make this information useful.
In a response article, Inc.com stated that it will understand the difference between “I need a ride” and “I don’t need a ride”. Through its ability to process 10,000 words per second in 20 different languages, Deep Text will eventually be able to identify and remove spammy or offensive content automatically. Of course, this brings up concerns of privacy for the public. If the system is extracting meaning form Facebook messages, there has to be assurance of a fine line called the Bill of Rights, remaining uncrossed. The company must be able to prove that the conversations will not be used for anything beyond simple suggestions.
Matters aside, Deep Text could be a very powerful search engine. TechCrunch reported that it has the ability to make huge improvements in how it routes content form authors to viewers. Ultimately this addition could give Facebook an advantage over other popular social media networks such as Snapchat or Twitter.
The internet is evolving everyday and companies like Facebook and Instagram have been upping their design and reaching new consumers as a result. I am certain that there is much more to come in the future for Facebook.
