Facebook M!

Facebook has launched its own digital assistant M, which is similar to Apple Siri and Google Now, to a few hundred people in the Bay Area.

20:06 01 September 2015

David Marcus, head of Messenger at Facebook, said: "M is a personal digital assistant inside of Messenger that completes tasks and finds information on your behalf.”

 

"It's powered by artificial intelligence that's trained and supervised by people."

 

"Unlike other AI-based services in the market, M can actually complete tasks on your behalf. It can purchase items, get gifts delivered to your loved ones, book restaurants, travel arrangements, appointments and way more."

 

Explaining the business model for Facebook, Marcus, who worked for Paypal before, said: "We start capturing all of your intent for the things you want to do.”

 

"Intent often leads to buying something, or to a transaction, and that's an opportunity for us to [make money] over time."

 

According to experts, Facebook is in a very strong position in the digital assistant race as it knows more about us than any other social network.