Facebook Launches M, Its Bold Answer to Siri and Cortana | WIRED

AI + IA (artificial intelligence + intelligence augmentation); see The Transhuman Condition (Harper's) for an excerpt of Machine of Loving Grace, John Markoff's latest book, which addresses related topics

"Companies from Google to Taskrabbit are engineering products to act as superpowered personal assistants. Some, like Apple’s Siri, Google Now, or Microsoft’s Cortana, rely entirely on technology, and though they can be used by a lot of people, their range of tasks remains limited. Others, like startups Magic and Operator or gig-economy companies like TaskRabbit, employ people to respond to text-based requests. These services can get nearly anything done—for a much smaller number of folks. M is a hybrid. It’s a virtual assistant powered by artificial intelligence as well as a band of Facebook employees, dubbed M trainers, who will make sure that every request is answered."

Facebook Launches M, Its Bold Answer to Siri and Cortana | WIRED