CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company is building the assistant in preparation for the so-called metaverse, a more immersive version of the Internet that will let people interact online through virtual and AR glasses. Digital assistants will need to “learn the way humans do” to help users navigate this new online world, Zuckerberg said during a presentation on Wednesday.
“When we have glasses on our faces, that will be the first time an AI system will be able to really see the world from our perspective — see what we see, hear what we hear and more,” Zuckerberg added, saying he hopes to eventually build AI assistants that can “move between virtual and physical worlds”. The AI assistant doesn’t have a name, but Meta is calling the effort “Project CAIRaok”.
In most cases, these technologies are years away from being publicly available. Meta is testing its AI voice assistant on Portal devices, but only for simple uses, like setting reminders. The company previously launched an “open-source chatbot” called BlenderBot, and a few years ago pushed heavily into messaging bots. You can already use a Meta-created voice assistant for some basic commands on Portal, like making a call or asking about the weather.
AI voice assistants are not unique to Meta. Apple’s voice assistant, Siri, comes loaded onto its iPhone and iPad devices. Amazon’s Alexa has also become a household staple for many people. —
Source: News Formal (newsformal.com)