Facebook develops AI voice assistant, but its financial future is uncertain

Even though Facebook has been caught up in public opinion storms many times in recent years, it has never been absent when it comes to technological innovation.

Recently, CNBC first reported that since the beginning of 2018, Facebook has been committed to developing an AI-based digital voice assistant to compete with Amazon's Alexa, Apple's Siri, and Google Assistant. This report also confirmed that Zuckerberg has not given up his vision many years ago.

The ill-fated M

Many years ago, Mark Zuckerberg intended to build a powerful robot network.

He developed an assistant M for Facebook Messager, planning to cover the entire Messager with artificial intelligence and power automatic chat functions, news reminders, mobile games, and even help users call taxis and book restaurants.

To launch M, users tap a small button at the bottom of the Messenger app and send a message, just like you would on Facebook. M not only understands natural language, but can also ask follow-up questions during the conversation and prompt users when tasks are completed.

At the time, a Facebook executive said M was "excellent at getting the job done" and could do "far more than other virtual assistants."

M sounds (or looks) like it's great, but the reality is another matter. M's "greatness" is based on the help of human employees behind it, rather than being driven entirely by AI technology. Moreover, this project has been in testing and is not open to all Messager users.

Facebook killed the project last year. M was shattered before it really took off.

Portal's flaws

The image shows "Aloha Voice Testing" and the "M" logo that has been disbanded by Facebook.

Aloha is Hawaiian for love, hope, peace and happiness. In the fall of 2018, Facebook's voice-activated smart assistant debuted under the name "Aloha."

Facebook then combined Aloha with smart speakers to create Portal, a video communication chat device with a screen, similar to Google's Home Hub or Amazon's Echo Show.

The device allowed users to make video calls on Facebook Messenger, and at the time, Facebook was also trying to integrate voice capabilities into apps like Instagram.

It stands to reason that an AI assistant designed specifically for interacting with Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp should have unique and powerful skills.

But today, it only responds to simple voice commands related to launching Facebook Messenger video chats. More complex tasks, such as playing music or weather forecasts, are handled by the device's built-in Amazon Alexa.

It’s a bit ironic that the smart assistant developed by Facebook itself does not have pure Facebook “bloodline”.

Unknown "Mysterious Guest"

According to CNBC, shortly before announcing the closure of M, Facebook had already been planning to develop a more powerful AI voice assistant (mentioned at the beginning of this article). The research and development was led by a team in Redmond, Washington. According to two people familiar with the matter, the team has been contacting suppliers of smart speakers.

On the other hand, Ira Snyder, director of Facebook's augmented and virtual reality department, serves as the project manager. From Snyder's LinkedIn page, it can be found that he is directing a project called "Facebook Assistant". Whether "Facebook Assistant" will become the final commercial name of this new product remains to be seen.

A Facebook spokesperson said, "We are working hard to develop voice and AI assistant technologies that may be used in our AR/VR products, including Portal, Oculus (Facebook's virtual reality headset manufacturer) products, and others." Voice commands are especially important for AR and VR headsets, which are not typically used in conjunction with a keyboard, mouse or touchscreen.

And developing voice capabilities could give people more ways to use Facebook, such as letting you dictate messages to friends when you're too busy or unable to look at a screen, and then the recipient can read the text automatically converted by their device.

This feature can also power Facebook's voice navigation for hands-free use.

It is not clear what Facebook's specific vision for the new AI voice assistant is. Perhaps Facebook will not position the product as a voice assistant like Alexa, but use it to enhance the functions of hardware devices, or perhaps it will become a bridge between Facebook and other voice ecosystems.

Facebook will hold its annual F8 developer conference at the end of this month, and more information about this new product may be announced at the conference.

However, for now, everything is still unknown.

Facebook's uncertain financial future

As we all know, among the "heavyweights" in the voice assistant market, such as Siri, Alexa (Amazon), Google Assistant, Cortana (Microsoft) and Bixby (Samsung), Facebook is nowhere to be found.

Leaving Facebook aside, let’s first look at the current market situation.

According to Strategy Analytics, Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa account for half of the voice assistant market. Google is developing rapidly and is expected to surpass Amazon after 2021. Microsoft, Apple, Baidu and other companies are not to be outdone.

In addition, data from eMarketer also shows that in 2018, Amazon and Google had market shares of 67% and 30% respectively in this field, far ahead of other companies.

All in all, Facebook's voice revolution is still a step behind. It does not have a voice assistant, its smart speaker is still under development, and some of its own applications are not equipped with voice communication functions. In this regard, Facebook may be completely defeated.

But the good trend is that the market is expected to increase tenfold by 2022. Now, it is not too late for Facebook to enter the market and get a piece of the pie.

The grim situation is indeed a challenge that Facebook needs to face, but the real challenge for the company lies in rebuilding people's trust in it.

Although many people think that Facebook's video chat device Portal is great, no one would recommend it because Facebook's various scandals have put it at the center of public opinion.

People may even doubt the privacy security of this new product and turn to Facebook's competitors.

An article in Wired magazine revealed that Facebook found in internal testing that users of Portal responded more positively if they didn't know the device was related to Facebook.

In any case, Facebook should act quickly, otherwise it is likely to be overwhelmed by other companies. However, once Facebook decides to enter this market, it is destined to be a fierce battle.

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