Facebook working on voice assistant like Alexa

In a bid to take on Amazon Alexa or Google Home, Facebook is working on a voice-based assistant for its Portal video chat service and other future projects. According to a report in CNBC, the social network is “unclear how exactly Facebook envisions people using the assistant”. Facebook’s AI-enabled Portal video chat service currently uses Amazon’s Alexa. “We are working to develop voice and AI assistant technologies that may work across our family of AR/VR products including Portal, Oculus and future products,” a Facebook spokesperson said in a statement. Facebook last year shut down a chat-based assistant called “M” in its messaging app.