Facebook has recently declared that it is going to set up two AI research laboratories in Seattle and Pittsburg. As per sources, the social media magnate will hire the services of professors & academicians from reputed educational institutes such as Carnegie Mellon University and University of Washington. The strategic move has raised concerns across the academic cosmos, with most institutions fearing that the loss of renowned teachers is likely to hamper the research work in the universities.
Incidentally, firms such as Facebook & Google are renown for paying high salaries for AI & machine learning professionals, which other educational institutes or non-profit organizations cannot afford.
Yann LeCun, Director of AI research at Facebook, has allayed the fears faced by the academic universe, stating that the firm basically wants to create a model that can be beneficial for both private as well as public sectors. He further added that the professors are exposed to altogether different experience in the industry – an experience that may benefit the student community & academic research activities. Facebook further believes that the industry-academia connection will help in creating scientific breakthroughs that can be transformed into technological applications later on.
A key official of Facebook has stated that the organization’s Facebook AI Research Residency Program (FAIR) – a one-year research training course with the AI Research Team of Facebook is devised with the aim of generating a healthy collaboration between reputed universities & the social media giant. LeCun has asserted that Facebook does not recruit a large number of full-time faculty members from any academic establishment through non-disclosure pacts. He emphasized that the firm intends finding best-fit solutions and not lure away academicians.
The video sorting & photo applications on Facebook depend on machine learning and this has forced the social networking service firm to invest in Artificial Intelligence research activities, say sources. It is believed that the firm is carrying out AI research activities that can help in filtering out hate speech as well as terrorist groups on the social media site.