Facebook hires Jerome Pesenti, an expert from UK startup BenevolentAI, to lead its artificial intelligence efforts
Facebook has poached a top scientist from a UK tech startup to lead its artificial intelligence efforts.
Jerome Pesenti is leaving BenevolentAI – a startup using machine learning technology to discover new drug treatments for diseases like motor neuron disease – to take on Facebook’s top job in artificial intelligence research.
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Prior to leading the startup’s tech arm and heading up its newly opened New York office, Pesenti was a top executive working on IBM’s Watson artificial intelligence.
Facebook chief technology officer Mike Schroepfer said Pesenti will “co-ordinate and drive our AI strategy across the entire company”.
“With Jerome focused on day to day management across AML and FAIR, Yann [LeCun, chief scientist] will now be able to fully focus on the research agenda and fostering the best culture in the industry for researchers,” he said.
“These moves come at a time when Facebook is increasing our investment in artificial intelligence to help keep our community safe, to connect people to the content that’s most meaningful and relevant to them, and to build important new products in VR and AR.”
The tech company is exploring how AI can help it fight fake news and online extremism, issues which have drawn serious scrutiny in recent months.
LeCun said there were a “number of misinterpretations” in reports of the shake up and that Pesenti’s role as vice president of AI is a new one.
“The creation of this position is a reflection of the growing importance of AI for Facebook’s business and operations. He is not replacing me as director of FAIR [Facebook Artificial Intelligence Research]. The organisations he oversees include FAIR, AML [Applied Machine Learning group], and possibly future AI-focused organisations. But FAIR remains a separate entity with its own management structure,” he said in a Facebook post.
“The management structure of FAIR was actually changed several months ago: my role has become that of a chief AI scientist, focusing on scientific direction, AI strategy, and external ‘evangelism’.”
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The change is not the only news coming from the under pressure tech company, with a spate of announcements this week. That includes hiring Apple’s director of worldwide investigations Lee Freedman as associate general counsel for compliance, security and investigations, reports 9to5mac, and the departure of its marketing chief Gary Briggs.
It has also acquired a US startup working on biometric identity called Confirm, launched new digital skills hubs across Europe, rolled out new tools for users in response to new privacy laws and revealed that it has created a new unit of time called a flick.
Meanwhile, it published its latest missive this week in a series designed to confront questions being raised about its influence, admitting that social media can be bad for democracy. And finally, Buzzfeed has revealed that the survey it plans to use to ask users about what media they trust has just two questions.