Facebook’s assistant could be different from the competition in one important way

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Siri, Alexa, Cortana, by now you’ve probably noticed that nearly all digital assistants are portrayed as female. Even Google’s more gender neutral Assistant has a female voice by default.

Interestingly, Facebook may be the tech company to buck this trend. 

CNBC reported this week that Facebook’s planned smart speaker, which was originally slated to launch this week at F8, will include a version of the company’s M digital assistant feature. And, according to the report, we may now know what “M” is short for: Marvin. 

A quick recap: M is Facebook’s assistant feature that was first launched in 2015 as a kind of human and AI hybrid. The goal at the time was to use a combination of artificial intelligence and humans to create an assistant that could help you do everything from order food to buy plane tickets. Read more…

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