Google is set to take on Facebook anew with a messenger app it is reportedly developing that incorporates artificial intelligence, sources revealed.
The search engine giant is said to be currently building a new messenger app that will incorporate chatbot technology to answer users' questions within the app. The chatbot will be able to search the net for the relevant information related to the question being asked, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Through the new app, Google will also be able to direct users to specific chatbots designed to respond to particular queries. However, instead of the usual search over web browsers, the questions will be sent as text messages, to which the chatbots will reply in a similar manner, offering users a more conversational experience.
Sources reported that longtime Google developer and current vice president for communications Nick Fox is heading the team working on the project. As part of the undertaking, Fox reportedly offered to purchase startup company 200 Labs, which makes chatbots. However, the offer was reportedly declined.
Google has itself conducted extensive research on artificial intelligence, announcing in June that its researchers have developed a chatbot capable of learning how to talk with human users through analyzing movie dialogues. However, the company will reportedly be opening the project and allowing other developers to create their own chatbots, Mail Online reported.
The new project is expected to be Google's answer to Facebook M, a chatbot announced by the social network company a few months back. Facebook M, which is still currently under development, acts as a digital assistant that lets users make purchases or travel arrangements through text. Google's new project is also said to be competing with Apple's Siri and Microsoft's Cortana.
The company has yet to make an official announcement of the project, as well as provide a potential launch time frame.