Facebook rolls out 'M Suggestions' powered by AI

After testing M, its AI assistant for almost two years, Facebook has finally rolled out a version of M, christened "M Suggestions," to all Messenger users in the US.

For those who are unaware, M "is your helpful assistant in Messenger, powered by artificial intelligence." And the latest feature, M Suggestion offers "suggestions by popping into an open conversation to suggest relevant content and capabilities to enrich the way people communicate and get things done," Facebook said.

The feature is rolling out to iOS and Android users in the US. The feature will see a broader roll out in the coming months.

M Suggestions works by analysing your conversation and looking for keywords to trigger its suggestive capabilities. The test feature will suggest things like sending a location after someone asks a question like “where are you?” or it will offer a small selection of stickers you may want to send in response to a message. “M” will show up in these conversations with its own chat avatar.

Along with sharing location details, M's capabilities also include initiating payment requests through Messenger, calling a ride-hailing app like Uber and Lyft, and starting a poll for group chat participants.

"The personalization is based on established patterns," said Stan Chudnovsky, head of product for Messenger. "It's the AI's decision on what to serve and how." The more you use it, the more it learns about your unique traits and personalises itself according to them.

Facebook M was initially announced in 2015, which was under testing phase with selected users and it will continue to be a testbed. “The original M was a testbed for a lot of things and will continue to be a testbed,” Chudnovsky said. “We get a lot of inspiration from that. Once we learn something, we’ll take certain pieces that we’ll expand to more people in a contextual way.”

In case you don't want the suggestions, you can use the Messenger settings to mute it entirely or turn off certain kinds of recommendations.

Facebook is expected to launch more features in the coming days. "Expect to see more and more AI-powered, delightful and relevant experiences improving Messenger for you, every day," Facebook said.