Facebook have developed their very own digital assistant, as they look to rival Siri, Google Now, and Window's Cortana.

The software, which is known as 'M', is currently only available to a few hundred Facebook Messenger users in the Bay Area, San Francisco, but will be rolled out worldwide once they work out any bugs that may arise.

M, like all of the other digital assistants, will use artificial intelligence to complete its tasks but unlike Siri, Google Now, and Cortana, M will be run by a team of people with customer service backgrounds, something the company believes will make the process not only more user friendly, but also more reliable.

The messenger app, which now has over 700 million users, welcomes M as another feature in Facebook's attempt to turn the app into a stand alone platform, having already added a number of games in recent months. 

The app will help you do anything from find and booking a holiday or a place to eat, to picking a perfect birthday gift for one of your friends, which sounds like it'd save us a lot of time and effort.

Having said that, it's also a great way for Facebook to sell advertising, as you'll notice that a lot of the examples are based around the consumer industry, with recommendations popping up for places and things to spend your money on. Still, if it can tell us the easiest way to a burger at half one on a Saturday night, we're all for it.






Via Wired