Mark Zuckerberg Says Facebook Will Compete Directly Against Google As A Search Engine

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Business Insider/Julie Bort

Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg and Google CEO Larry Page

If you want to know where Facebook thinks its business is going in the future, just read what CEO Mark Zuckerberg told Wall Street analysts yesterday on his Q4 2013 earnings call. Facebook will take on Google directly for dominance of search, he said. Zuckerberg pointed out three facts about the company that have gotten little attention in the media so far:

• Facebook has a bigger "index" of data on hand than any other search engine.
• Facebook's artificial intelligence unit is working to make that data available through Graph Search, Facebook's search engine.
• The final product will be rolled out on mobile devices so that people can ask Facebook for advice and solve their problems using voice recognition on their phones.

The caveat here is that this effort will take 10 years, he said.

This vision emerged when Zuckerberg was asked about Graph Search, which is somewhat clumsy to use and has received lukewarm reviews. The different between Graph Search on Facebook and Google search is that Google will return concrete results for discreet keywords, whereas Graph Search is intended to help you find answers to questions where the answer isn't fixed or clear, such as, "What are my friends' favorite restaurants?"

Here's what Zuckerberg actually said:

So the first release [of Graph Search] indexed more than a trillion connections between all the people and interests and events and groups and things that everyone was connected to. The second release that we did recently was around all the updates. So there are more than a trillion status updates and unstructured text posts and photos and pieces of content that people have shared over the past 10 years, and indexing that was a really big deal, because as the number of people on the team who have worked on web search engines in the past have told me, a trillion pieces of content is more than the index in any web search engine.

That last phrase — "more than the index in any web search engine" seemed deliberate. It obviously implies that Zuckerberg thinks he has a database on hand that is bigger than Google's. And he didn't say "search engine," he said "web search engine." A cynic might interpret that as meaning he believes Google search is somewhat confined to internet browsing whereas Facebook's in-app experience might provide something more personal that is separate to, or in challenge with, the overall web.

(There's a debate to be had about how Zuckerberg is defining "index," and Google — which indexes every page available on the entire web — probably believes its index is larger.)

But that is the scale of Facebook's ambition, to be "more" than "any web search engine." It's not clear that people get just how important this is to Facebook. (Business Insider first wrote about the plan in October last year, but few paid attention.)

It's a huge vision. But given that Zuckerberg has gathered 1.2 billion users onto a single platform and is single-handedly funding the development of the internet itself in the developing world, it fits within the scale that Zuckerberg thinks at.

Doubtless Google has its own A.I units and its own grand plans for search. But until recently, Microsoft's Bing and Yahoo's search engine had taken only small slices of Google's business. What Zuckerberg seems to be saying is that in 10 years time, Facebook will be capable of providing a research and question-and-answer service that will be better than "any" other search engine.

Here's some more detail on what Zuckerberg said:

The way that we’re thinking about this, there’s just so much content that people have shared on Facebook that simply building the infrastructure to index all of it and start ranking it is a multiyear effort, which we’re making our way through.

... And I can speak to some of the deep learning work. In the last quarter, Yann Lecun, one of the really earliest folks, and one of the founders of deep learning, and a professor at NYU, joined us to lead our AI group. And this is a long term research group that we have. It’s going to fit into our strategy over a longer, maybe five or ten year, period.

And their goal is really just to try to understand how everything on Facebook is connected, by understanding what the posts that people write mean, and the content that is in the photos and videos that people are sharing, help people with tasks like if you’re sharing a voice clip in messenger, being able to transcribe that for people, so that they can receive it more easily.

So these are some pretty big tasks in AI that are things that we have teams that are working on that will need to be researched over time, and will have obvious implications for the products that we do, but over time the real value will be if we can understand the meaning of all the content that people are sharing, that we can just provide much more relevant experiences for people across everything that we do.

Internally, we talk about our strategy, and there’s a three-year strategy, a five-year strategy, and a 10-year strategy. And the three-year plan is really all about building new kinds of experiences for sharing, like so many of the questions on this call have been about. The five-year approach is really mostly about helping people use their network to answer interesting questions or solve problems that they have.

And that’s where all the Graph Search work and the open graph work and some of the early parts of the AI work that we’re doing you’re going to start to see over that period of time

All smiles as Sharif, Zardari lay Thar Power Project foundation stone

Former president Asif Zardari, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Sindh CM Qaim Ali Shah unveil the 660MW coal power generation project at Thar. PHOTO: APP

KARACHI: The inauguration of the Thar Coal Power Project brought the rare joint appearance of former president Asif Ali Zardari and his successor, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

The two erstwhile rivals were amicable, however, as they laid together the foundation stone for the $1.6 billion project in Mirpurkhas, Sindh.

Both leaders drew attention to the cross-party cooperation that led to the inauguration of the project.

“The concept came about five years ago,” Zardari said in his speech, “and the Pakistani leadership has matured to the extent that projects like this can be executed.”

Sharif echoed Zardari’s sentiments in his address.

“Politics has its place. We all act according to our mandates, and Mr Zardari has passed on his mandate with an open heart,” he said.

“People should recognise that politics in Pakistan is done differently now. This project isn’t Sindh’s project; it is Pakistan’s project. This isn’t Zardari’s or Nawaz Sharif’s project; it is Pakistan’s project.”

Sharif moved on to directly address Pakistan’s power crisis. “The project,” said Sharif, dressed in a traditional Sindhi hat and shawl, “is one of many that will take Pakistan out of its acute electricity shortage.”

He then went on to list various projects, including three dams, wind power at Jhimpir, 10 projects at Gadani that he hopes will take Pakistan out of its current power troubles.

The Thar Coal Power Project is estimated to produce 660MW of electricity, according to Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah, who was also present at the inauguration. It is expected to be completed by 2017.

Of the $1.6 billion in costs, the project is based on 75:25 debt to equity ratio. Engro Power, one of the stakeholders of the project, envisages raising $900 million from Chinese banks, $300 million from a Pakistani banking consortium and the remaining $400 million from sponsors

Ranveer Singh to replace Shah Rukh in Aditya Chopra’s next?

According to Indian media reports Bollywood director Aditya Chopra, for the first time, may not rope in his favourite actor Shah Rukh Khan in his next directorial venture.

Chopra, who is handling his family banner Yash Raj Productions, is reportedly in favour to cast Ranveer Singh in the lead for the project.

So far Chopra has directed three films – ‘Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi’ ‘Mohabbatein’ and ‘Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge’ and in all of them SRK has played the lead role.

On the other hand, Khan will be seen sharing screen space with ‘Raanjhanaa’ actress Sonam Kapoor for the first time in Rahul Dholakia’s ‘Raees’.

The film, which will be produced by Excel Entertainment, will also feature Farhan Akhtar. It is expected to release on Eid next year.

Salman Khan, Elli Avram to share screen space?

According to India Today Bollywood superstar Salman Khan and Swedish Greek actress Elli Avram may appear together on the big screen.

Though no details about the film have been disclosed, reports reveal the ‘Jai Ho’ actor has told his company that Avram will share screen space with him in a film.

India Today quoted a source saying, "Elli is being approached by other filmmakers and Salman has put in a word for her as well. Now it has emerged that Elli will do a film with Salman."

Avram, who was catapulted to fame after appearing as a contestant in ‘Bigg Boss 7’, made her Bollywood debut in 2013 with the film 'Mickey Virus'.

Johnny Depp spent $100,000 on Amber Heard’s engagement ring?

According to American media reports Hollywood actor Johnny Depp is believed to have splurged around $100,000 on an engagement ring for girlfriend Amber Heard.

Speaking to EOnline.com Jewelry expert Zaven Ghanimian said, "if we assume it's a white oval diamond in the five carat range, the price would be between $78,000 to $100,000."

The two began dating in 2012 after Depp announced his separation from his former love Vanessa Paradis.

They sparked engagement rumours after the ‘Rum Diary’ actress sported her engagement ring, for the first time, at a private charity event in Anaheim, California on Sunday.

Paradis, who has two children- Lily Rose and Jack with Depp, has also moved on to another relationship with French singer Benjamin Biolay.

White House weighs petition to deport Justin Bieber

WASHINGTON: As if Barack Obama didn't have enough problems to deal with already, his administration now is being asked to weigh in on the grave matter of Justin Bieber's bad behavior.

By midday Wednesday (1700 GMT), a petition on the White House website calling for the deportation of the Canadian-born teen idol had garnered 103,000 names -- easily surpassing the threshold of 100,000 signatures required for presidential consideration.

"We the people of the United States feel that we are being wrongly represented in the world of pop culture," says the petition, created by one "J.A." in Detroit on January 23, the day Bieber was busted in Miami Beach for impaired driving and illegal drag racing in a flashy Italian sports car.

"We would like to see the dangerous, reckless, destructive and drug-abusing Justin Bieber deported and his green card revoked. He is not only threatening the safety of our people but he is also a terrible influence on our nation's youth. We the people would like to remove Justin Bieber from our society."

The White House website hosts citizens' petitions on other, more heady issues such as the legalization of marijuana and a pardon for National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden.

"Every petition that crosses the threshold will be reviewed by the appropriate staff and receive a response," assistant White House spokesman Matt Lehrich said.

But State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki cautioned that the petition program "doesn't always determine a step will be taken, it's more of another opportunity for the voices of the American people to be heard."

There was no comment from Bieber himself, who according to gossip websites was back in Los Angeles on Wednesday after a weekend beach break in Panama.

Bieber, 19, is understood to be living and working in the United States under a renewable O-1 visa for entertainers, rather than a green card for permanent resident status.

It remains unclear whether Bieber's visa to stay in the United States would be affected by his arrest.

Now out on bail, Bieber is due back in Miami for a court appearance on Valentine's Day, when he will also also face charges of resisting arrest and using an expired driver's license.

Police in Los Angeles are pursuing their own investigation into an earlier incident in which Bieber allegedly hurled eggs at a neighbor's house.

Affleck responds to backlash over Batman casting

In an interview with Playboy, Hollywood star Ben Affleck said he would not have agreed to play Batman in ‘Man of Steel 2’ if he thought the role wasn’t perfect for him.

Speaking to Playboy, Affleck said, “I understand I'm at a disadvantage with the internet. If I thought the result would be another Daredevil, I'd be out there picketing myself. [laughs] Why would I make the movie if I didn't think it was going to be good and that I could be good in it?”

The ‘Argo’ star, who faced major online backlash over his casting as batman, will portray ”older and wiser” version of the caped crusader in ‘Batman vs Superman’.

The 41-year-old actor said he was initially reluctant to take on the highly-coveted role but changed his mind after seeing what director Zack Synder was doing.

"When they asked if I would be Batman, I told them I didn't see myself in the role and I was going to have to beg off. They said I'd fit well into how they were going to approach the character and asked me to look at what the writer-director, Zack Snyder, was doing. The stuff was incredible,” Affleck told the magazine.

“It was a unique take on Batman that was still consistent with the mythology. It made me excited. All of a sudden I had a reading of the character. When people see it, it will make more sense than it does now or even than it did to me initially.”

When asked about how his character will be different from Christian Bale and Chris Nolan’s version, he said, “i don't want to give away too much, but the idea for the new Batman is to redefine him in a way that doesn't compete with the Bale and Chris Nolan Batman but still exists within the Batman canon. It will be an older and wiser version, particularly as he relates to Henry Cavill's Superman character”.

The highly-anticipated, film will also feature Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, while Henry Cavill will reprise his role as Superman. The film is expected to release in May, 2016.