This Is Facebook's Plan to Create Computers That Talk Like Humans

Facebook wants computers to better understand what people say. The social networking giant unveiled a research project on Monday that is aimed at jump starting the development of more powerful voice-recognition software used in things like Apple's (aapl) Siri, Amazon's (amzn) Alexa, and Google's (goog) Assistant. And the company is asking outsiders for help. Facebook's goal is for computers to eventually have meaningful conversations with humans. If successful, it would be a major step forward from current technology, which is still in its early stages. People can currently do some basics like using their voices to ask Amazon's Echo home speaker to play the Beatles' A Hard Day's Night or navigate automated phone trees when talking to your cable company.