Facebook on Thursday launched its digital assistant named "M" for US users of its Messenger application, ramping up the social network's efforts in artificial intelligence.
For users of the messaging platform, M will pop up and suggest "helpful actions" in the chat window.
The move is seen as the first step in a broader launch of the digital assistant to compete against services from Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Apple and Samsung, which is launching its new assistant with its newest smartphone.
M uses artificial intelligence and "suggests relevant actions to help manage conversations or help get things done," Facebook product managers Laurent Landowski and Kemal El Moujahid said in a blog post.
"We are bringing the power of M's AI technology to support and enhance the Messenger experience and make it more useful, personal and seamless."
The new assistant will also ask you if you'd like to share your location if a friend asks where you are, suggest that you start a poll if you're trying to get a group to make a decision (i.e. Should we get pizza or burritos for dinner?), and will offer to request an Lyft or Uber if your conversation mentions getting a ride.
Users will have the option to turn off the suggestions.
The feature is powered by a version of Facebook's previously announced M digital aide. It's not the full version of M, however — it's just one element of it that's now rolling out on a larger scale. And while Facebook introduced M as a virtual butler driven by humans and artificial intelligence working together, the version coming to Messenger is fully software-based. The company said it plans to add more AI-powered features in the future, and that the software will get smarter over time as it learns your habits and preferences.
Facebook's new Messenger feature comes as a wide array of other technology companies, from Apple to Amazon, are also looking to expand the capabilities of their own digital aides. Google, for instance, recently introduced a chat app called Allo with a built-in version of the company's Google Assistant helper. Each firm has particular advantages in this battle. For Facebook, success may lie in scale — Messenger now has more than one billion users, and every interaction that its AI has with a person can potentially make it smarter and more useful. But if Facebook's users perceive the new feature as invasive, they might simply turn it off, privacy assurances notwithstanding
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