Facebook this week released a 6,000-word manifesto, detailing its plans for the future, including how it will use artificial intelligence.

In a leaked early addition of the manifesto, Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook hinted that the firm would use AI to spy on users, in a bid to 'identify risks.'

But mysteriously, in the final published version, that information has been removed, suggesting Zuckerberg decided to keep the invasive plans a secret.

In a leaked early addition of the manifesto, Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook hinted that the firm would use AI to spy on users, in a bid to 'identify risks'

In an early version of the manifesto given to Associated Press, Zuckerberg said: 'The long term promise of AI is that in addition to identifying risks more quickly and accurately than would have already happened, it may also identify risks that nobody would have flagged at all including terrorists planning attacks using private channels, people bullying someone too afraid to report it themselves, and other issues both local and global.'

This paragraph was then removed.

Instead, Facebook said instead of spying on people, the AI update would allow users to have more control over graphic content.

The published version now reads: 'The idea is to give everyone in the community options for how they would like to set the content policy for themselves. Where is your line on nudity? On violence? On graphic content? On profanity? What you decide will be your personal settings.'

In the past, the company has got into trouble for wrongly removing accounts of police violence or historical photos that involve nudity.

But Facebook now says that with more sophisticated artificial intelligence, it will be better at tailoring what it does and doesn't allow on the site.

Zuckerberg added: 'For those who don't make a decision, the default will be whatever the majority of people in your region selected, like a referendum. Of course you will always be free to update your personal settings anytime', he said.

This means the company's policies will no longer be as clear-cut but subject to local variations.

Making people decide their own settings also raises questions about how we licence them for different age groups, or make a distinction between nudity that is pornographic and artistic.

Currently AI is delivering 30 per cent of content flags to human mediators - but this will only increase in the future, according to Tech Crunch.

'Looking ahead, one of our greatest opportunities to keep people safe is building artificial intelligence to understand more quickly and accurately what is happening across our community', Zuckerberg said.

Facebook now says that with more sophisticated artificial intelligence, it will be better at tailoring what it does and doesn't allow on the site (stock image)

He said AI would help flag up incidences of bullying, harassment and even avoid tragic events like people live streaming suicides.

However, Zuckerberg warned that these systems make take years to fully develop.

'Right now, we're starting to explore ways to use AI to tell the difference between news stories about terrorism and actual terrorist propaganda so we can quickly remove anyone trying to use our services to recruit for a terrorist organization', he said.

It is unclear why Zuckerberg removed the early version of the manifesto, although Facebook told MailOnline: 'We don't have anything to add to Mark's letter.'

KEY MANIFESTO POINTS Community-building 'Online communities are a bright spot, and we can strengthen existing physical communities by helping people come together online as well as offline. In the same way connecting with friends online strengthens real relationships, developing this infrastructure will strengthen these communities, as well as enable completely new ones to form.' Preventing harm 'Today's threats are increasingly global, but the infrastructure to protect us is not. Problems like terrorism, natural disasters, disease, refugee crises, and climate change need coordinated responses from a worldwide vantage point. No nation can solve them alone.' Informed public 'A strong news industry is also critical to building an informed community. Giving people a voice is not enough without having people dedicated to uncovering new information and analyzing it. There is more we must do to support the news industry to make sure this vital social function is sustainable - from growing local news, to developing formats best suited to mobile devices, to improving the range of business models news organizations rely on.' Civic engagement 'Our world is more connected than ever, and we face global problems that span national boundaries. As the largest global community, Facebook can explore examples of how community governance might work at scale.' Click here for the full report Advertisement



