Launched in 2015, Facebook had large aspirations for its AI assistant (named ‘M’), and as the company continues to roll out new features to amp up its offering, from today users can receive help with movie selections.
Should someone in a user’s Facebook chat suggest watching a movie, ‘M’ will suggest opening up the new Fandango chat extension, to find a movie, watch the trailer or look up viewing times – all of which can easily be shared back to chat recipients with a simple ‘tap’.
Users will also be able to purchase tickets from directly inside the Facebook Messenger app, which is said to be a core feature the company aspired toward concerning ‘M’ integration.
Facebook’s ‘M’ assistant is AI-powered, meaning the more a user calls upon it, the better it will get in providing assistance.
As part of the new AI features, Facebook has also rolled out ‘GIF suggestions’. Should a user be in a chat and type in a common expression (e.g. thanks, I love you), a GIF picker bar will automatically appear aligning with the written phrase.
‘M’ will now also offer suggestions for quick replies to suitable questions. For example, should a user be asked a direct yes-or-no question in a one-on-one chat, a ‘M’ suggestion will offer quick reply options such as ‘yes’, ‘no’ or ‘I think so’. It’s likely to be a helpful feature to users who are time-poor and need to give quick replies whilst actively engaged in other tasks.
United States users will be the first to experience the new features.
