Facebook has bought facial
recognition start-up FacioMetrics, potentially using the technology for photo
or video effects to better challenge rival Snapchat. How people share and
communicate is changing and things like masks and other effects allow people to
express themselves in fun and creative ways.
Silicon Valley-based Facebook did
not disclose financial terms of the deal to buy FacioMetrics, which was spun
out of Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania. FacioMetrics was founded in
2015 and specializes in using artificial intelligence to give facial image
analysis capabilities to applications that run on smartphones.
The technology has potential in a
host of applications, including those focused on animation, measuring audience
reactions, and virtual or augmented realities. Using FacioMetrics to let users
of Facebook, or subsidiaries such as Instagram, have fun with photos or video
could be a counter-move to those kinds of features offered in “filters” at
vanishing message service Snapchat.
Parent company Snap estimates it
has more than 100 million users globally of the service for sending videos,
images and text messages which vanish after being viewed. Some reports say it
generates 10 billion video views per day. Since trying unsuccessfully to buy
Southern California-based Snapchat several years ago, Facebook has turned to
cloning popular features.
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