Apple has one, Microsoft has one, Google has one – That means that Facebook will, eventually, have one. We’re not talking about a canteen that serves ice cream all day either, Facebook is reported to be working on their own take on a virtual assistant – something that can stand head-to-head with Siri, Cortana and Google Now.
Website The Information claims that Facebook is testing and planning on releasing Moneypenny, a virtual assistant that resides inside the company’s Messenger app. Moneypenny is an internal code name for the assistant feature but it’d make a really great actual name for an assistant program, provided they can clear that one with the James Bond people.
But Moneypenny will, based on what we know, work a little differently to other digital helpers. Moneypenny will allow Messenger users to ask for help through the app, either for research purposes or online shopping at this point, and the reply will be generated by a human animal rather than an AI.
Other details on the feature aren’t known. When it’ll arrive or what its final form will be or even if it’ll actually be useful… we’re still waiting on that information.
Source: The Information via Engadget