Facebook CEO Details Upcoming Features, AI and VR Research in Q&A Session

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in his latest written question-and-answer session on his Facebook page talked about several features that the company is currently working on. He also answered queries from users related to health, science, and future of Facebook.

Zuckerberg most importantly talked about the company's efforts in the artificial intelligence (AI) field. On being asked to detail more on the AI initiatives that Facebook is involved in, he replied saying, "Most of our AI research is focused on understanding the meaning of what people share."

Further, Zuckerberg explained that if a user shared an image that includes his friend, Facebook should make sure that the friend sees it. Similarly, if a user posted an image of dog and shared a post about politics, Facebook should show the post to people who like dogs and politics.

"In order to do this really well, our goal is to build AI systems that are better than humans at our primary senses: vision, listening, etc. For vision, we're building systems that can recognize everything that's in an image or a video. This includes people, objects, scenes, etc. These systems need to understand the context of the images and videos as well as whatever is in them," added Zuckerberg.

Facebook is also working on translating speech to text alongside text between any languages to answer user queries. He said, "For listening and language, we're focusing on translating speech to text, text between any languages, and also being able to answer any natural language question you ask. This is a pretty basic overview. There's a lot more we're doing and I'm looking forward to sharing more soon."

The social platform giant recently expanded its artificial intelligence programme by opening a new lab in Paris, the third after two it already runs in the US.

On being asked about Internet.org, Zuckerberg replied, "We're working on two main paths: First, we're working on partnerships with operators to deliver free basic Internet services around the world. This is already live in more than a dozen countries and more than one billion people can already access these free basic Internet services. We have many more launches planned around the world as well. Second, we're working on new technologies that can extend Internet connectivity even further. The main three things we're working on are drones, satellites and lasers."

He added that 'Internet for all' can contribute to jobs, education, health, and communication.

Responding to a query about Facebook's future, Zuckerberg stressed on few new trends in communication that the company is working on including the virtual reality and augmented reality. "One day, I believe we'll be able to send full rich thoughts to each other directly using technology. You'll just be able to think of something and your friends will immediately be able to experience it too if you'd like. This would be the ultimate communication technology," he said.

Stephen Hawking, famous theoretical physicist, also had a question related to science for Zuckerberg, "I would like to know a unified theory of gravity and the other forces. Which of the big questions in science would you like to know the answer to and why?" He replied saying, "I'm most interested in questions about people. What will enable us to live forever? How do we cure all diseases? How does the brain work? How does learning work and how we can empower humans to learn a million times more? I'm also curious about whether there is a fundamental mathematical law underlying human social relationships that governs the balance of who and what we all care about. I bet there is."