Facebook is buying British AI firm to help tackle fake news: report

Facebook is buying a British AI firm to help tackle fake news, according to reports by TechCrunch on Monday, in what would be a notable shift in strategy for the social media site as it continues to face content issues.

Facebook has vowed in recent months to beef up human editors and problem-spotting AI as it addresses concerns about election meddling and abuse of the platform. The company recently expanded fact-checking resources to more countries ahead of global elections.

The acquisition of London-based Bloomsbury AI would cost only $30 million at the upper end of reported estimates, but could signal Facebook is now looking outside the company to round out its own efforts.

Facebook declined to comment.

Bloomsbury AI develops natural language tools for question-and-answer functionality. The company’s product, Cape, reads text documents and answers questions about the content, including questions that involve reasoning and synthesis, according to the start-up’s site.

Source: CNBC & TechCrunch