Meta unveils SeamlessM4T multimodal translation model

Meta researchers have unveiled SeamlessM4T, a pioneering multilingual and multitask model that facilitates seamless translation and transcription across both speech and text. 

The internet, mobile devices, social media, and communication platforms have ushered in an era where access to multilingual content has reached unprecedented levels. SeamlessM4T aims to realise the vision of seamless communication and comprehension across languages.

Boasting an impressive array of...

22 August 2023 | Development

Meta bets on AI chatbots to retain users

Meta is planning to release AI chatbots that possess human-like personalities, a move aimed at enhancing user retention efforts.

Insiders familiar with the matter revealed that prototypes of these advanced chatbots have been under development, with the final products capable of engaging in discussions with users on a human level. The diverse range of chatbots will showcase various personalities and are expected to be rolled out as early as next month.

Referred to as...

1 August 2023 | Applications

Meta launches Llama 2 open-source LLM

Meta has introduced Llama 2, an open-source family of AI language models which comes with a license allowing integration into commercial products.

The Llama 2 models range in size from 7-70 billion parameters, making them a formidable force in the AI landscape.

According to Meta's claims, these models "outperform open source chat models on most benchmarks we tested."

The release of Llama 2 marks a turning point in the LLM (large language model) market and...

19 July 2023 | Companies

Mark Zuckerberg: AI will be built into all of Meta’s products

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg unveiled the extent of the company’s AI investments during an internal company meeting.

The meeting included discussions about new products, such as chatbots for Messenger and WhatsApp that can converse with different personas. Additionally, Meta announced new features for Instagram, including the ability to modify user photos via text prompts and create emoji stickers for messaging services.

These developments come at a crucial time for Meta,...

9 June 2023 | Applications

Meta’s open-source speech AI models support over 1,100 languages

Advancements in machine learning and speech recognition technology have made information more accessible to people, particularly those who rely on voice to access information. However, the lack of labelled data for numerous languages poses a significant challenge in developing high-quality machine-learning models.

In response to this problem, the Meta-led Massively Multilingual Speech (MMS) project has made remarkable strides in expanding language coverage and improving the...

23 May 2023 | Applications

Meta calls up generative AI squad as Snap releases ChatGPT-powered bot

Generative AI is firmly in the sights of social media. Meta is forming a new product group around generative AI to focus on ‘building delightful experiences’ into all of the company’s products, while Snap has unveiled a new chatbot running on OpenAI’s GPT technology.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg confirmed the seat-shuffling in a Facebook post, stating that teams currently working on generative AI will be pulled together. Detail was light on the scale of projects, but Zuckerberg...

28 February 2023 | Applications

Meta’s protein-folding AI reminds us it’s not just a metaverse firm

Meta has unveiled a new protein-folding AI that could be revolutionary for science and the development of new medicines.

Facebook, as the company was known before changing its name, has always been seen as a leader in AI. The popular open-source framework PyTorch was Facebook’s creation and earlier this year Meta became a founding member of a foundation aiming to drive the adoption of AI.

In its pursuit to become a leader in the metaverse, changing its very company...

2 November 2022 | Applications

Meta’s chatbot hates Facebook and loves right-wing conspiracies

A chatbot called BlenderBot was launched by Meta on Friday and it’s already been corrupted by the darker parts of the web.

To ease us in with the odd but harmless, BlenderBot thinks it’s a plumber:

https://t.co/KWEHxoXpqg also has thoughts on the Deep State and thinks it’s a plumber. I did not suggest this. pic.twitter.com/SbOj7hziSg

— Jeff Horwitz (@JeffHorwitz) August 7, 2022

Like many of us, BlenderBot criticises how Facebook...

10 August 2022 | Artificial Intelligence

Meta’s NLLB-200 AI model improves translation quality by 44%

Meta has unveiled a new AI model called NLLB-200 that can translate 200 languages and improves quality by an average of 44 percent. 

Translation apps have been fairly adept at the most popular languages for some time. Even when they don’t offer a perfect translation, it’s normally close enough for the native speaker to understand.

However, there are hundreds of millions of people in regions with many languages – like Africa and Asia – that still suffer from poor...

7 July 2022 | Applications

Meta claims its new AI supercomputer will set records

Meta (formerly Facebook) has unveiled an AI supercomputer that it claims will be the world’s fastest.

The supercomputer is called the AI Research SuperCluster (RSC) and is yet to be fully complete. However, Meta’s researchers have already begun using it for training large natural language processing (NLP) and computer vision models.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZnykn1tDSE

RSC is set to be fully built in mid-2022. Meta says that it will be the fastest in the...

25 January 2022 | Applications