Wit.ai has been around for a while now, and used to charge a monthly fee for some private models. It was then acquired by Facebook and made free for all uses.

I guess it would really improve peoples' trust in wit.ai (and thus the number of users) if they would declare their plans for monetization or policy otherwise for the future. Otherwise developers might not want to see their work become invalid when the platform suddenly costs money, or something.

It's owned by Facebook.

What part of their monetisation plan (privacy whoring to sell ads) is not apparent to anyone who cares to look by now?

That would be rather short-sighted. Different platforms should be monetized differently, and Facebook has shown that it is willing to do this, such as with WhatsApp, which isn't filled with ads: https://www.quora.com/How-does-WhatsApp-make-money-especiall...

With wit.ai, I would be surprised if they decided "privacy whoring to sell ads" is the right way to go.

From that very page

> Instead, the company said it will explore ways businesses can use WhatsApp to connect with individuals, and will introduce new ways for users to communicate with businesses and organisations that will pay the company to target relevant communications with customers.

>> organisations that will pay the company to target relevant communications with customers

So, their plan is more targeted advertising in the form of "offers" or "deals" etc.

Ah, I think you may have misunderstood. Below those lines, the examples given on the Quora link are:

> A bank could use WhatsApp paid account to communicate with its customers about recent transactions and necessary fraud warnings.

> An airline could use WhatsApp paid account to contact its passengers about a delayed schedule or cancelled flight.

I would argue that these do not seem like ads.

Right. Just like my telephone company says it might want to send me SMS notices about when a bill is due, and then actually sends me SMS notices about every fucking promotion under the sun from their sister companies, in a language I can't read.

I honestly do not understand the logic of people who look at a company, wholly owned by Facebook, and give them the benefit of the doubt when it comes to business tactics, privacy, etc.