Meet M, Facebook’s virtual assistant

Facebook has been making all the right noises in the competitive world of social media and its latest offering, ‘M’, the virtual assistant could give the likes of Siri (Apple), Cortana (Microsoft), Now (Google) and Echo (Amazon) a run for their money.

M stands out from its competitors because it isn’t limited to just providing information but turning it into action by making purchases or providing services. Other competitors’ virtual assistants make use of artificial intelligence that responds to queries but M involves a bit of artificial intelligence and human assistance. Facebook is expecting human assistance to cover the gaps of artificial Intelligence when it comes to understanding natural language and what the user intends to ask the virtual assistant.

Facebook’s information on users’ likes and preferences will aid M in suggestions and solutions to questions users could have. Facebook is beta testing M in San Francisco as of now. With M looking to perform actions with the consent of the user it could be tricky as it will spend money on behalf of the user. The other side being that Facebook could misuse M to make shady and dubious transactions and any such events could hit the image of the virtual assistant. If it works out without any glitches it could be a gamechanger as businesses will be queuing up for Facebook M. The social media network could also charge a small percentage for the financial services rendered.

Facebook’s biggest plus is its large database of users and related information. Mark Zuckerberg recently claimed that one in seven people in the world had accessed Facebook on August 29. “For the first time ever, one billion people used Facebook in a single day. 1 in 7 people on Earth used Facebook to connect with their friends and family. When we talk about our financials, we use average numbers, but this is different. This was the first time we reached this milestone, and it’s just the beginning of connecting the whole world.”