Facebook (still the world’s most-used social media platform) is acquiring Bloomsbury AI, with a price tag somewhere in the neighborhood of $23-30 million dollars.
Bloomsbury AI uses Natural Language Processing (NLP) as a form of Artificial Intelligence in which machines “read” and “learn from” documents. NLP is what it sounds like: it’s built to learn and process natural language: the way humans normally read, write and speak.
What We Think
We think Facebook is most interested in its Q&A capabilities, as the machine-learning in Bloomsbury adds questions and answers into documents.
They could be using it to improve moderation of its vast amounts of content. This becomes more and more difficult as the platform continues to grow. It’s also possible that it could be used to improve the search. This makes it even easier for users to find what they’re looking for from their tablet, smartphone, or desktop.
What This Means For You
This news confirms the growing role of machine-learning in data collection, the customer experience, and customer relationship management. And you don’t have to be Facebook to benefit from the power of machine learning.
You can start building a chatbot right now that will answer—and guide–your customers, 24/7. Your Facebook advertising will have better returns if they can improve their search technology as a result of this acquisition.
We’ll keep an eye on this story, and pass any updates we learn about Facebook and Bloomsbury straight to you.
