Apple has Siri, Amazon has Alexa, Microsoft has Cortana, Google has Google Now, and Facebook has … M?
The social network giant today unveiled a new digital personal assistant it is developing inside its messaging platform, Messenger.
Called “M,” the service is powered by artificial intelligence and completes basic tasks while answering questions like “where’s the best place to go hiking in the Bay Area,” or, “is there a dog-friendly beach nearby?”
As Facebook Messenger product lead David Marcus notes in this post, M can also help you find items to purchase or a good restaurant nearby.
“Unlike other AI-based services in the market, M can actually complete tasks on your behalf,” Marcus wrote. “It can purchase items, get gifts delivered to your loved ones, book restaurants, travel arrangements, appointments and way more.”
One aspect of “M” that differentiates it from other digital assistants is that the back-end AI is “trained and supervised by people,” Marcus notes. Wired reported today that a group of Facebook employees called “M trainers” make sure that every request is answered.
One of the most popular requests from Facebook employee testers with “M,” Wired noted, was using the assistant to call cable companies and “endure the endless hold times and automated messages to help you set up home wifi or cancel your HBO.”
Wired reported that a “few hundred” Facebook users in the Bay Area have access to “M.”
