Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Facebook is Shutting Down M, Its Personal Assistant Service That Combined Humans and AI (cnbc.com)

Posted by msmash on from the didn't-work-out dept.

Facebook M, the text-based virtual assistant that used human workers to train an artificial intelligence system, is ending the human-assisted part of the service after two and a half years. From a report: The human-enhanced version of M, which was available through a bot on Facebook Messenger, only ever became available to about 2,000 people living in California. The final day of the will be January 19th, Facebook said, and contractors who worked on it will be offered other jobs at the company. First introduced in August 2015, aspects of the service will live on through M suggestions, which offers fully automated suggestions for payments, making plans, and sending stickers through Messenger. When it launched, Facebook described M as a "beta" and suggested the human-powered assistant would come to more users over time. But it never did. Upon shutting down the human-powered M, Facebook described it as an "experiment."

11 of 18 comments (clear)

  1. Companies never learn by 110010001000 · · Score: 2

    AI is not a real thing. Clippy and Eliza get reinvented every decade. What a waste of money and time.

    1. Re:Companies never learn by decipher_saint · · Score: 1

      Are you telling me Bonzi isn't my Buddy?

      --
      crazy dynamite monkey
    2. Re:Companies never learn by 110010001000 · · Score: 1

      "If you'd say not"

      I'm beginning to think the answer to your first question is "no".

    3. Re:Companies never learn by 110010001000 · · Score: 1

      Not sure about that. It might be! Alexa is essentially the same thing as Bonzi Buddy, just with even more spying.

    4. Re:Companies never learn by HideyoshiJP · · Score: 1

      Yeah, the buddy that won't shut up and won't leave when you tell him to.

  2. Slow news day? by sjbe · · Score: 3, Insightful

    When it launched, Facebook described M as a "beta" and suggested the human-powered assistant would come to more users over time. But it never did. Upon shutting down the human-powered M, Facebook described it as an "experiment."

    So something that barely anyone knew about and fewer actually got to use is being shut down without ever being widely rolled out? I'm not really sure why I should care...

    Slow news day I guess.

    1. Re:Slow news day? by 110010001000 · · Score: 1

      I agree. We should be talking about throwing the Intel CEO in jail for insider trading instead.

    2. Re:Slow news day? by Nkwe · · Score: 1

      Insider trading isn't the problem they need to worry about. "Materially misleading statements to shareholders" is what will hang them up. They've known about this problem for months, yet never disclosed it, even vaguely, as a concern going forward in any of their SEC filings. That, my friend, is fraud, and they will have to make the shareholders whole again.

      Since the shareholders *are* the owners of the company, where would funds to make the shareholders whole come from? It would come from the value of the company (which is distributed across shareholders). Making the shareholders "whole" sounds like a zero sum game.

  3. Re:Never Heard of This by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 2

    But since it's got that buzzword known as "AI" in it, I'm sure everyone will come out of the woodwork to cry about this tragic loss.

    It's always sad when an Al goes away. Losing Al Bundy was the worst though.

    --
    "That's the way to do it" - Punch
  4. Re:Never Heard of This by ganjadude · · Score: 1

    right? Al didnt even get a real final episode. sad really

    --
    have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
  5. Meh. by beep54 · · Score: 1

    Call me when you can report simply "Facebook is shutting down".