What is Facebook AI and How is it Revolutionizing Digital Marketing?

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has always been an intriguing concept that had fascinated experts and laymen alike for centuries. Over the years this AI technology has seen immense breakthroughs in the field of machine learning and deep learning. These concepts have led to the processing of machines so that they can analyze information themselves in a very sophisticated manner. Thanks to the recent developments in Artificial Intelligence; machines can now perform complex functions such as facial and voice recognition, to start with.

In Facebook, AI researchers seek to understand and develop systems with human-level intelligence by advancing the longer-term academic problems surrounding AI. They are committed to make advancements in the field of machine intelligence and is henceforth creating new technologies to give people better ways to communicate through accessible tooling so that it proves beneficial for all.

Artificial Intelligence is a rising factor and because of it, the digital marketing industry has seen immense changes over recent years. In a digital world on steroids, consumer journey, which starts from intent to attribution to final purchase, is driven by news and ads placements as per their social media consumption. AI helps in understanding these trends and tries to predict them so that advertisers and customers alike can show or buy exactly what they want without repetitive campaign and needless searching.

The AI market is booming as companies are continuing to invest in cognitive software capabilities. The International Data Corporation has indicated that the global spending on AI systems is expected to reach $77.6 billion by the year 2022, it is more than triple the $24 billion that had been forecasted for 2018. 

At Facebook, AI is being used for translation of text between languages, or to describe images for visually impaired people, activities like photo tagging, friend recommendations, fake-news filters and timeline sorting. AI helps to draw up a physiographic profile of customers based on their likes, dislikes, friend list, common friend interests, opinions and travels.

Mr. Antoine Bordes, co-managing director of Facebook’s artificial intelligence research labs, told Bloomberg News that “the great things about robotics is that it takes place in real-time, in the real world.”

And Facebook’s chief AI scientist YannLecun said “Giving machines “common sense” to learn about the world through data will be a big area of research in artificial intelligence over the next decade”.

To sync in with the AI rave, Facebook has acquired an artificial intelligence startup that helps users shop for furniture. The company is called GrokStyle and has been bought for an undisclosed sum. GrokStyle is a visual shopping app that was used by the likes of IKEA to help consumers find, explore, and decide on purchases. By rising with a one-of-a-kind invention, Grokstyle has helped international companies to communicate with their customers effectively. Its point-and-search functionality had earned them recognition when it was added to IKEA’s mobile application.

The social media platform has been successful to get new technologies that can contribute to their AI capabilities. In doing so brands and companies can regularly adopt new technology so that they can be ahead in engaging their audience as well as explore and tap new territories for digital marketing for their company in the near future.

So how can a company use AI for their marketing strategies? Over the years AI has evolved to prove beneficial to many industries. Facebook has been known to expand on AI’s creative abilities to actually enhance their consumers’ experience. Some of the applications for which AI is being used are:

  1. AI can be used for the next email marketing
  2. Chatbots and Voice Assistants can be used to answer queries
  3. Pictorial recognition can be used in digital marketing
  4. Content moderation as in identifying fake news and hate speech
  5. Dynamic Customer Cohorts
  6. Relevant ads placements & news feeds

While AI is the buzzword of this decade, its potential threat is also a key concern for all researchers and experts. In a perplexing incident, Facebook itself had to abandon an experiment after two artificially intelligent programs started chatting to each other in a strange language, which only they understood. It seemed the two chatbots had made changes to the English language accordingly that made it easier for them to understand – but which remained a mystery for the humans who were apparently looking after them.

As told by researcher Mike Lewis to FastCo: that the company chose to shut down the chats because “our interest was having bots that could talk to people, and not amongst themselves.” Hence the experiment was abandoned because the programs were not doing the work required, not because the researchers were afraid of the results. Given all the challenges, Facebook AI will still continue to grow across all industries and can revolutionize digital marketing. But in doing so the real challenge faced by industries would be to use AI effectively for their business. To use Facebook AI effectively, you can contact digital marketing specialists to know about the current trends so that you can utilize effective tools for your brand to the fullest.