San Francisco, April 18: 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 on Wednesday, 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. Facebook, WhatsApp & Instagram Services Restored After Complete Blackout Around The World; Downtime Cause Remains Undisclosed.

"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. US Immigration & Customs Enforcement Officials Created Fake FB Profiles To Apprehend Indians, Says Facebook.

According to the report, Ira Snyder, a general manager at Facebook Reality Labs, is working on the voice-assistant project. Facebook Portal and Portal+ video chat speakers come with Smart Camera and Smart Sound technology.

Portal offers hands-free voice control. You can start a video call simply by saying 'Hey Portal' and noting who you'd like to call.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 18, 2019 01:13 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).