Facebook AI footprint leaves a lot to be desired despite Zuckerberg's optimism

Facebook logo is seen at a start-up companies gathering at Paris' Station F in Paris, France, January 17, 2017. REUTERS/Philippe Wojazer - RTSWFUE

In 2014, Tesla co-founder Elon Musk predicted that humans may be doomed if machines became smarter than them, referring to the pace of pickup in artificial intelligence. Later, he decided to try and develop artificial intelligence in a way that will have a positive effect on humanity, after his alarm was not paid much attention to.

In keeping with his theory, Musk took on Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg Tuesday tweeting, "I've talked to Mark about this. His understanding of the subject is limited."

Musk's comment came after Zuckerberg had said, "With artificial intelligence (AI) especially, I'm really optimistic, I think that people who are naysayers and kind of try to drum up these doomsday scenarios - I just, I don't understand it. I think it's really negative and in some ways I actually think it is pretty irresponsible."

But has Facebook really marked its presence in AI? And how have others in the Silicon Valley fared in the space.

Facebook has been working on its own AI programmes

In 2015, Facebook announced 'M', as its virtual assistant. They later integrated it with the Messenger.

In December 2016, Zuckerberg also introduced Jarvis, AI home assistant he had been building.

According to a report in Digitimes, Facebook is now mulling its own smart speaker to take on its rivals. The speaker will feature a 15-inch touch panel.

In spite of Zuckerberg's endorsements for AI technology and development of M and Jarvis, the smart speaker will not be featuring voice commands or a virtual assistant, which has led to speculations of the virtual assistants' ability.

The social media giant is already playing a catch-up game. Yet, Facebook is moving slow on this front.

Just like Facebook, most of the tech giants have their own virtual assistant programmes.

Google Now and Google Assistant

Google Now was introduced in 2012. But its use has been restricted to web services. The virtual assistant was made available on Android, iOS and Windows phones too.

Since 2015, Google has been killing Google Now slowly to make way for a new intelligent personal assistant called "Google Assistant".

Apple's Siri

Launched in 2011, Apple's virtual assistant Siri is the oldest commercially available AI service. But, experts suggest Siri has lost ground to other AI programmes and is now playing a catch up game. Siri is available only on Apple devices. The voice commands allow users to carry out web searches, handle device settings, and engage with on-device applications.

In June, Apple introduced the Siri-integrated HomePod smart speaker. Siri will be able to accept voice commands and connect to in-house devices.

Amazon's Alexa

The Jeff Bezos-led company launched 'Alexa' in 2014. Alexa is capable of playing music, setting alarms, streaming podcasts, playing audio books, giving real time information and news, on voice command. It also allows users to order food using the voice command.

Alexa can also be linked to multiple third-party smart devices, thereby enabling it to work as a virtual home assistant.

Microsoft Cortana

Cortana was launched in 2014 by Microsoft for its Windows-based devices. It enabled users to set reminders and answer questions based on Bing-based searches, using voice commands. Cortana can also make sports predictions. It correctly predicted winners of 14 matches during the 2014 FIFA World Cup knockout stage.

Samsung Bixby

Samsung launched Bixby in April for Galaxy devices and refrigerators, making it the first non-mobile phone virtual assistant.

Besides the voice command searches, Bixby is able to identify objects in real time and search for them on various services using the device's augmented reality camera. Bixby currently supports three languages - English, Korean and Chinese.