by Daisy Luther, The Organic Prepper:

If you are uncomfortable with Mark Zuckerberg’s massive data-mining operation, otherwise known as Facebook, you might be even more uncomfortable with his next public venture.

While the software, AI, and algorithms used by Facebook are already uncanny in their ability to monitor and predict behavior, Facebook is now launching a research program into creating an AI indoor mapping technology and increased sound recognition.

This isn’t your ordinary AI program.

It’s not just about mapping and recognition but the permanent memory of objects and locations.

Just read part of this CNN report, “Facebook Wants To Help Build AI That Can Remember Everything For You.”

The company announced a real-world sound simulator that will let researchers train AI systems in three-dimensional virtual spaces. These spaces will mimic sounds that occur indoors, opening up the possibility for an AI assistant to help you track down a smartphone ringing in a distant room.

Facebook also unveiled an indoor mapping tool to help AI systems better understand and recall details about indoor spaces, such as how many chairs are in a dining room or whether a cup is on a counter. Today’s technology is not capable of doing this. Smart speakers generally can’t “see” the world around them, and computers are not nearly as good as humans at finding their way around indoor spaces.

Mike Schroepfer, Facebook’s chief technology officer, hopes this works. However, the early stage could eventually power products like a pair of smart glasses to help you remember everything from where you left your keys to whether you already added vanilla to that bowl of cookie dough.

In short, he wants to perfect AI that can perfect your memory.

“If you can build these systems, they can help you remember the important parts of your life,” Schroepfer told CNN Business in an interview about the company’s vision for the future of AI.

Schroepfer’s goal depends on the company convincing people to trust Facebook to develop technology that may become deeply embedded in their personal lives. No small feat after years of privacy controversies and concerns about the amount of personal information the social network already has.

And to turn these AI systems into the sort of memory machine Schroepfer envisions, you would have to wear a pair of sensor-laden augmented-reality glasses, which have so far struggled to gain much traction.

Facebook, like other tech companies, including Snap (SNAP)and reportedly Apple (AAPL), is working on AR glasses.

“At the end of the day, our hope is that these AR glasses are giving people superpowers,” Schroepfer said.

With its tiny display and front-facing camera, Google Glass didn’t catch on with consumers but was reborn as an enterprise device. Snapchat’s parent company has made multiple attempts at launching video-recording sunglasses and took a nearly $40 million write-down for excess inventory of its first-generation version.

But perhaps smart glasses that can help you track down your wallet would be a bit more compelling than glasses that can take a picture of it.

Facebook’s latest AI research builds upon an existing open-source environment simulator. The company introduced AI Habitat in 2019, enabling AI researchers to quickly train AI systems in realistic-looking digital replicas of real spaces, like a kitchen or living room.

AI Assistants that understand and navigate indoor spaces, will become a reality.

Of course, many people are only going to see the upside of this technology. Never lose your phone again. Never forget your keys again. Never wonder if you had 50 dollars or 20 dollars on the counter when you went to sleep.

Just ask Facebook.

When has Facebook been concerned about its users’ convenience when a price wasn’t attached?

Most people believe Facebook is free. The truth, however, is that it comes at an incredible price – your personal data. That data is siphoned off to others for a fee and to some for free. Why might Facebook want to map indoor areas and have a permanent memory of all those spaces? And, we might ask, where is this ultimately going?

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