Facebook terminates the Messenger M project
Not all the projects that arise from a technology company manage to approach success and become successful products of the firm. Many remain on the road and even others never cease to be more than tests or ideas. In the case of the personal assistant of Facebook, Messenger M, its journey suggested that we would be facing a great proposal from Mark Zuckerberg to the segment of virtual assistants, with great potential over, due to the huge number of users that the social network has. However, as highlighted by The Verge, the social network giant Facebook has decided to discontinue this project, being the next January 19 the last day of work for all those involved in the initiative that is now truncated. Recall that M was announced for the first time in 2015, during the event F8 (the annual conference of developers of the social network of Zuckerberg), and later, in April 2019, officially presented with the aim of offering suggestions to users of its Messenger, instant messaging application.
One of the most important aspects of the assistant was the implementation of the Artificial Intelligence of Facebook to make suggestions that allow a more fluid interaction in the conversations of the users. In addition, thanks to the automatic learning techniques, Messenger M would offer more relevant actions and according to the context of the communication. Posted by Facebook on Wednesday, April 5, 2017 Several of these suggestions offer great possibilities to users who use them, such as: sending stickers, making payments or requests for money to friends, sharing a specific location, coordinating plans, suggesting surveys in group conversations and linking to transportation applications like Uber. However, in order to make all these suggestions, the company relied on a joint work between its AI software and a group of people hired to analyze the answers or suggestions offered by the M bot during the conversation. Despite everything, Facebook says that the project has allowed them to learn “what people need and expect from an assistant”, taking all that knowledge to apply later in new Artificial Intelligence projects. Even, the suggestions will continue to exist in Messenger. As pointed out by CNET, the company currently has two divisions dedicated to artificial intelligence: AML (Applied Machine Learning) and FAIR (Facebook AI Research), so that, surely, in a short time we will begin to see other similar proposals. So, what do you think about this decision? Simply share all your views and thoughts in the comment section below.
