Facebook readies virtual assistant 'Moneypenny'

Moneypenny may draw comparisons with Siri and Cortana but has more in common with a host of other virtual assistant apps

Facebook is reportedly working on a feature called ‘Moneypenny' to join the likes of Apple's Siri, Microsoft's Cortana, Google Now and dozens of other apps in the virtual assistant space.

But unlike many of the apps that are currently on the market which aim to replace real people in providing assistance, Facebook's feature allows users to ask real people for help.

The virtual assistant is known internally as ‘Moneypenny' after M's secretary in the James Bond stories, according to three people briefed on the matter, but little information has yet emerged about the feature, except that it is to be embedded into Facebook Messenger.

It is unclear whether the feature will be able to be monetised by the social media giant - or whether the firm simply will add to its already impressive collection of information about its users.

While Facebook's new assistant will draw comparisons with Cortana and Siri, there are many other virtual assistant-like apps available that may be have more in common with Moneypenny.

Computing spoke recently to Dennis Mortensen, CEO of x.ai, which has developed an AI-based product for scheduling meetings. It aims to perform the duties of a personal assistant (for those who probably don't have one) by using artificial intelligence. He claimed that the product, which is still in its beta stage, would aim to interpret tone, sarcasm and lies from users who input text.

Mortensen said that, rather than being a competitor, he saw Siri as an enabler.

"We're not competing with Siri here, Siri is very likely going to be an enabler in the future. Someone could ask Siri to ask [x.ai's] Amy or Adam to set up a meeting with Dennis, for example," he said.

Other apps in the space include Native - a virtual assistant that deals with your travel-related requests such as the best way to use your air miles for a specific trip, Vida Health - an assistant which analyses all of a person's meals to determine which foods may be causing an issue for them, and Genee, another personal assistant in the mould of x.ai, which uses natural language processing (NLP).