Facebook Retorted to Apple’s & Microsoft’s Digital Assistance with ‘M’

Image source: 9to5mac.com

Apple’s Siri and Microsoft’s Cortana are examples that how artificial intelligence can assist humans on their handheld devices. But, Facebook has surpassed both of them with its recent announcement of new ‘M’, a digital assistance that is more than just artificial intelligence. Though, for now it is accessible by only few hundreds of Bay area Facebook users, but it is likely to roll out soon in pockets of all Facebook users. As per the recent updates, the company has introduced some effective technical advancements to keep M ahead of its rivals.

David Marcus, vice president of messaging products, Facebook stated that “It won’t take long for messenger user’s to realize M can accomplish much more than your standard digital helper”. In another statement he said that “it can perform tasks that none of the others can, this is because in addition of using artificial intelligence, M is powered by actual people.” Seems like after leading the market of social media platforms, it is ready to take on digital assistance.

Image Source: engadget.com

What all ‘M’ can do

• M can do anything you ask for, it can make a reservation for you at hotel or restaurant.

• It can tell you about the most famous restaurants or burger points in an area.

• M can guide you like a local by proving information about the most famous tourist spot, the specialty of that area or the most famous food joint etc., if you visit somewhere as a tourist.

• It can help in finding a birthday gift for your spouse.

• If you are planning small trip for weekend, M can suggest for locations and make reservations as well.

• M can purchase essentials for you, it can also help surprise your loved ones with delivery of gifts.

The most important feature that gives an edge to M over its competitors is that M is a hybrid, unlike Siri and Cortana that only work on the basics of artificial intelligence, M is backed by human knowledge as well. Facebook has hired sufficient manpower to monitor that none of the query should remain unanswered. And, along with that they will also answer such trickier calls that are difficult for a software to answer.

Well, this again becomes a reason for query in most of the users’ mind that as the usage will increase in future, number of queries will also go up, so how will Facebook manage this task? But, Facebook is having a solution for that. According to Facebook officials, the system is having the capability to improve with time, it will learn from human behavior and act smarter with time. It would not be wrong to say that army of Facebook or M trainers are initially working as a support system to establish the software, but their burden will reduce with time and M will take care of everything by itself.

M’s ability to improve with time and to learn or understand things from human behavior makes it an indubitable leader of future. M will be able to better relate with people and thus provide better assistance. Unlike its competitors such as Siri, Cortana, Google Now etc. that work in a more mechanical manner and provide rote answers, M is way better.

How it Works

• To send a message to M, users only have to tap a button at the bottom of the messenger, in exactly the same way they send message to anyone else on Facebook messenger.

• M asks for follow-up questions in the same thread and also sends update once the task is done.

• M can organize dinner parties, search the specialty of a place for you, as it is doing for the Facebook employee testers.

How it can Benefit Users

• Improved artificial intelligence coupled with brilliance of humans will definitely lay a foundation of better user experience. 

• Users would be able to make easy reminders, reservations, and important bookings just with a smart handy device.

• It can help find the suitable restaurant or food point, or any other destination a user desires for at a tourist destination.

• Users will get the answers of even most complicated queries.

• Most importantly, M will learn new things and this experience will keep on improving with time.

What Disadvantage may come across M

One and only disadvantage that Facebook M may have to face is that unlike Apple and Microsoft, Facebook does not have its own operating system, one has to download an app, ‘Facebook Messenger’ to enjoy the assistance of M. Although, the number of Facebook messenger users have tripled in less than two years, so the scope of growth for M is immense. But, it may come as a task for those who are not using the messaging app of Facebook.

How it may affect the Market

Facebook has just arrived to compete in the field of digital assistance and it may give a tough competition to its rivals. Number of users of Facebook messenger has increased significantly in less than two years, and introduction of new unbeatable digital assistance of messenger ‘M’ is soon likely to become the reason for further increased downloads.

Facebook keeps thriving the market from time to time with its latest technological updates, it is also just an introduction of what all ‘M’ can do. But, experiencing the technology in real will make you fall in love with M. We will keep an eye on other recent updates, so stay tuned.