Facebook uses AI to counter distress caused by profiles of the deceased

Facebook wants to harness AI to prevent distressing occurrences where a deceased loved one's profile is shown as if alive on the platform.

Many of us have been there, we've logged in to Facebook to find a notification alerting us to say “Happy birthday!” to a loved one who's no longer with us. Or, sometimes, they can appear as a suggestion to invite to an event.

These are distressing moments for people, and short of ‘unfriending’ or blocking the profile they can...

10 April 2019 | Machine Learning

Facebook pumps $7.5m into an independent AI ethics centre

An independent AI ethics research centre is set to receive $7.5 million of funding courtesy of the folks at Facebook.

The new research centre is called the Institute for Ethics in Artificial Intelligence and was created in collaboration with the Technical University of Munich (TUM).

Facebook, like many companies, is fighting outside concerns about the development of AI and its potential societal impact. The centre should help to ensure Facebook keeps up with ethical best...

21 January 2019 | Ethics & Society

Facebook is planning on doubling its AI unit by 2020

Facebook’s plans to double its artificial intelligence unit by 2020 indicates just how important the firm considers it to be. The so-called FAIR (Facebook Artificial Intelligence Research) division at the company has approximately 180-200 staff. Speaking to Forbes, Facebook Chief AI Scientist Yann LeCun said he expects the division to double by 2020. Already, he admits, "I don't know everybody's name anymore and I don't recognise everybody either”. The innovative AI division at...

1 October 2018 | Meta (Facebook)

Facebook can open closed eyes in photos using AI correction

An AI-powered solution by a pair of Facebook engineers may be able to fix those photos that have been ruined by someone blinking at the wrong moment. The company published a 10-page research paper (PDF) this week detailing how their system works and likened it to existing photo retouching tools such as red-eye correction. Facebook’s idea is not entirely original, a similar feature exists in Adobe Photoshop Elements. The engineers acknowledge this in their paper but believe their ExGAN...

20 June 2018 | Meta (Facebook)