Facebook offers solution to end drunken posts Published duration 11 December 2014

image copyright Thinkstock image caption Facebook is looking to end the embarrassment of drunken photos ending up online

Facebook is working on software that could prevent users posting unflattering photos of themselves.

Combining image recognition and artificial intelligence, the system would be able to distinguish between drunk and sober pictures.

It would ask: "Are you sure you want your boss and your mother to see this?"

The plan was revealed by the head of Facebook's artificial intelligence research lab.

Speaking to Wired magazine , Yann LeCun said he wanted to build a Facebook digital assistant.

In the future, this assistant might also be able to help identify when someone else has uploaded a picture of a user without permission, he said.

Facebook already uses image recognition technology to help identify faces and allow users to tag them correctly.

Controversial

Increasingly the firm is using the technology in conjunction with artificial intelligence software.

AI is already being used to examine overall Facebook behaviour in order to identify the right content for news feeds, Mr LeCun told Wired.

The next stage will be to analyse text in posted statuses and automatically suggest relevant hashtags.

He also spoke about a future where an intelligent digital assistant could "mediate your interaction with your friends".

Such a future is likely to prove controversial, with both consumers and privacy advocates who will demand that such services are opt-in rather than offered as a default.

Many big tech firms are experimenting with AI.

Google has its own AI labs and has been investing heavily in AI and robotics firms.