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1Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems2Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute3Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsBuilding 8 was Facebook’s research and product-development group, launched in 2016 under former DARPA director Regina Dugan. It was designed to turn ambitious science into social-first consumer products. Its best-known 2017 announcements—typing words from brain signals and delivering language through the skin—were research goals, not finished products. The public record from the period shows an ambitious product lab, but no flagship consumer product shipped before Dugan left in October 2017.
What was Facebook Building 8?
Building 8 was the name of an internal Facebook team, not a public building, retail brand, or product. Facebook described it as a research and product-development group focused on creating and shipping “new, category-defining consumer products” that were “social first.” The aim was to connect frontier research to products that could reach consumers at scale.
Facebook launched the group in 2016 and recruited Regina Dugan to lead it. Dugan had previously led the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and Google’s Advanced Technology and Projects (ATAP) group. Facebook committed hundreds of millions of dollars to the effort, according to Forbes’s 2016 reporting.
How was Building 8 supposed to work?
The idea was not simply to fund open-ended laboratory research. Building 8 was presented as an innovation engine modeled on DARPA: take on difficult technical problems, organize work around ambitious programs and timelines, collaborate with outside researchers, then try to turn promising results into products. Dugan’s approach combined scientific breakthroughs with product development.
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- Privacy by design. Easily disable the camera and microphone, or block the lens with the camera cover.
| Dimension | Building 8’s stated approach | What that meant in practice |
|---|---|---|
| Scientific ambition | Frontier research aimed at category-defining products | The brain-interface and skin-based language projects went well beyond incremental updates to existing devices. |
| Time horizon | Ambitious programs with fixed goals and timelines, drawing on the DARPA and ATAP models | The ambition was to impose product-oriented discipline on difficult research, rather than treat it as open-ended science. |
| Who did the work | Building 8 team plus university and external research partners | University participation helped pursue problems that required specialized research, while Facebook pursued product development. |
| Intended destination | Social-first consumer products manufactured and shipped at scale | Research milestones were meant to lead toward usable products, not remain standalone laboratory demonstrations. |
This model also made success harder to judge by announcements alone. A compelling research problem or prototype was only one stage; the group’s stated purpose included turning the work into a product people could use.
What did Building 8 announce at F8 2017?
At Facebook’s F8 developer conference in 2017, Dugan introduced two of Building 8’s most striking research directions. Both were presented as goals under development, not available features.
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Silent speech from brain signals
Dugan asked, “What if you could type directly from your brain?” Facebook’s stated goal was a silent-speech system that could type 100 words per minute from brain signals—five times the smartphone typing speed the company cited at the time. It envisioned wearable, non-invasive sensors that could eventually be manufactured at scale.
The proposal was narrower than reading arbitrary thoughts. Facebook framed the system as detecting words a person had already decided to communicate, without requiring them to speak aloud. TechCrunch reported that a 60-person team was working on the brain-computer-interface effort and described optical imaging as one approach for detecting silently formed speech.
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The 100-words-per-minute figure was a target, not a demonstrated consumer capability. Time reported that sensors able to measure brain activity through hair, skin, and skull with the necessary speed and accuracy did not yet exist. That gap between the goal and the available sensing technology is central to understanding the announcement: the project described a desired destination, not a device ready to ship.
Delivering language through the skin
The second project aimed to convey language through touch. Facebook said it was building the hardware and software necessary to “deliver language through the skin.” The concept explored whether patterns of tactile stimulation could communicate language without relying on ordinary speech or a visual display.
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As with brain-based typing, the announcement described a research program. It did not establish that Building 8 had produced a consumer-ready system, or specify a released device that readers could buy.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Why did the projects raise privacy and ethics questions?
Brain-computer interfaces invite questions beyond accuracy and convenience: what signals are collected, what can be inferred from them, and who controls the information? Facebook said its proposed system was meant to decode words a person had chosen to share, not to read random thoughts. That distinction describes the intended use; it does not eliminate the need to consider consent, data handling, or unintended consequences as the technology develops.
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- A more natural connection. Smart Camera adjusts automatically so you can move freely and stay in frame, while Smart Sound ensures you can easily be heard.
- Call anyone, anywhere. Use apps like Messenger and WhatsApp to connect with friends and family—even if they don’t have a Meta Portal.
- Designed for the home. With a sleek picture frame design, quick setup and intuitive voice and touchscreen controls, Meta Portal fits easily and seamlessly into your home.
- Privacy by design. Easily disable the camera and microphone, or block the lens with the camera cover.
Facebook’s ethics planning reflected those concerns. Contemporary reporting said the company was working with university partners, including UC Berkeley and Johns Hopkins, and planned an independent Ethical, Legal and Social Implications (ELSI) panel. Oversight was relevant because the work touched on privacy and the consequences of building systems that interpret brain activity.
What did Building 8 actually build, and what happened to it?
In October 2017, TheWrap reported that Dugan was leaving Facebook after less than two years and that Building 8 had released no products to date. The group’s reported portfolio included work involving augmented reality, virtual reality and artificial intelligence, as well as a tentative video-chat device called Aloha. A reported project or device concept, however, is not evidence of a released product.
The available public record from this period therefore supports two different conclusions. Building 8 was a real product-development and research organization with significant resources, university partners, and technically ambitious programs. But its public legacy in the period covered here is primarily a set of research goals and product concepts—not a line of shipped consumer products. The sources cited here establish the group’s 2016 launch and its 2017 transition; they do not establish a current Building 8 structure or a successor organization.
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