I didn’t know Facebook was getting into AI. And in messaging. Wow. They only own two of the biggest messaging platforms on the planet.
Facebook is putting a boatload of resources into AI. It hired, for instance, more than 50 researchers led by AI veteran Yann LeCun. These researchers can make anywhere from mid-six to seven figures, according to one report. It acquired AI company Wit.ai in January. It is paying the full-time employees and contractors who work on M. And it is an area of focus for Marcus and other top executives in the company, including Mark Zuckerberg (who Marcus said came up with the concept for M).
To understand why that is, and the economic opportunity of M, think of it as a possible replacement for a Google search. Google makes its money by matching businesses with people looking for services similar to theirs. Search for flowers, for instance, and you’ll get a bunch of ads for flower shops. But if that query goes over to M, then Facebook stands to make the money instead.
Tens of billions of dollars a year are therefore at stake for the companies that can best capture our “purchase intent.” Google, the master, knows this. It’s put hundreds of millions of dollars into AI efforts of its own, including the $400 million purchase of the London-based artificial intelligence startup DeepMind last year.
“This is a multibillion-dollar arena,” Etzioni said.