Facebook Launches New “M” Virtual Assistant for Messenger

[Maura]

Facebook has announced the launch of its new virtual assistant for Messenger, which it has called

“M,” which it says is designed to “make your Messenger experience more useful, seamless and delightful.”

Currently only available in the US, but soon to roll out worldwide, M is powered by artificial intelligence, and will “pop” into your conversation to suggest relevant content.

According to Facebook, when M was first announced more than a year ago, “it was a small AI experiment powered by humans that could fulfill almost any request.”

Facebook adds that it learned a great deal from this experiment, with that knowledge then leading to the creation of the “completely automated” version of M that has just been launched today.

Facebook has been testing the feature with a small number of users over the past few months, and proclaims it “a great success.”

Here are M’s main features:

• Sending stickers: M shares fun sticker suggestions for your daily life interactions like “Thank you” or “Bye-bye.”

• Paying or requesting money: M recognizes when people are discussing payments and gives them the option of easily sending or requesting money.

• Sharing your location: M can suggest an option to share your location during a conversation.

• Making plans: If people are talking about getting together, M helps coordinating a plan.

• Starting a poll (in group conversations only):Have a hard time making decisions in a group? M lets you set a poll topic and vote in group conversations.

• Getting a Ride: Talking about going somewhere? M suggests “Get A Ride” and shares an option of Lyft or Uber.

Source: M Now Offers Suggestions to Make Your Messenger Experience More Useful, Seamless and Delightful | Facebook Newsroom