Introducing Facebook's virtual assistant

folarin okunola

August 27, 2015 1:40 PM

The assistant, called M, is only available in the Messenger app and is presently in a testing phase.

Facebook M

Facebook announced on Wednesday that it is testing out a new virtual assistant feature that will be able to perform tasks on your behalf, such as delivering gifts to your loved ones and making restaurant reservations.

The assistant, which will be called M, is only available in the Messenger app and is presently in a testing phase, available to a few hundred selected people in the San Francisco Bay Area.

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The new service highlights the increasing competition between tech giants Apple, Google, Microsoft and Facebook, all of which hope to become all-encompassing services that consumers use to both get information and manage their daily routines.

Apple's Siri comes built-in to its iPhones, while Google and Microsoft have put a lot of effort into perfecting their Google Now and Microsoft Cortana services.

Facebook's vice president of messaging products, David Marcus, said that M is powered by artificial intelligence technology that's "trained and supervised" by people in a Facebook post.

"We start capturing all of your intent for the things you want to do,” Marcus is quoted in a statement to Wired, according to Engadget. “Intent often leads to buying something, or to a transaction, and that’s an opportunity for us to [make money] over time.”

Wired reports that to use M, you would tap a small button within the Messenger app.

You would then send M a message just like you would to any other friend through Facebook. For example, you could tell M that you're traveling next week and you're looking for a good restaurant in the area. The virtual assistant would then offer a suggestion and ask if you'd like to make a reservation.

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What seems to differentiate M from its competitors is that you can type in natural language without asking questions in a formal way. The M team members at Facebook are all trained in customer service, too.

A spokesperson said Facebook has not yet given a timetable for when M will be available beyond the initial test group and offered to the 700 million worldwide users of Facebook Messenger.

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