In addition to Facebook's new Shops initiative, the company is also turning to AI-powered photo recognition to make it easier to sell items through its Marketplace advertising platform.
Unlocking the power of Facebook's AI: Marketplace repeat sales without lifting a finger
How it works: According to The Verge , Facebook is launching a “universal product recognition model” that uses AI to figure out what you’re taking a photo of to sell. For example, imagine taking a photo of your car and having all the details about its make and model automatically appear in your listing. All you have to do is point your smartphone camera at the item.
The future: The Verge notes that it’s just a small step toward a future where every image on Facebook can be ranked and potentially purchased. “We want to make everything on the platform shoppable, where the experience feels right,” Facebook’s Manohar Paluri told The Verge. “It’s a big vision.”
Now: You can see this new system in action in Marketplace now when you upload a photo of something you want to sell. For example, when we took a photo of an Xbox controller, the categories "Controllers & Attachments" and "Video Game Consoles" were automatically populated in the sales form.
