We all know about Siri, Cortana and Google Now, but yesterday our favourite social media platform, Facebook launched “M”. M is its very own text-based virtual assistant, which is also integrated with Facebook Messenger. What is different about M, is that it relies on both human and artificial intelligence to fulfill requests. This is something that both Siri and Cortana need to catch up on.
Reports suggest that there is a team of M Trainers, who are prepared and trained to fulfill requests that the artificial intelligence component cannot answer. It is also said, that as of now, the artificial intelligence does not have access to all the social data that Facebook collects and therefore has to depend on the information available through earlier conversations and follow-up questions. This however could change “with proper user consent” says Facebook’s VP of messaging products, David Marcus.
What makes M’s activities different from Siri, Cortana or Google Now? Well, an example of what it can do is this – it can allow people to get recommendations for vacations and restaurants for instance, and can also follow through with bookings or purchases.
David Marcus also added that Facebook is planning to hire thousands of M trainers in the future. This artificial intelligence assistant can be good for Facebook’s financial strength, since it can generate money via various partnerships with businesses.
The sad part is, that currently M is only available to residents of California’s Bay Area. This has been reported to be an intentional move, so as to, ensure commonality between M trainers and the people making requests. The product will be launched on Messenger apps all around the world, soon. Watch this space for more updates.
Source : [tw-button size=”medium” background=”#07ABE2″ color=”” target=”_blank” link=”http://www.wired.com/2015/08/facebook-launches-m-new-kind-virtual-assistant/”]Wired [/tw-button]
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