Facebook is shuttering M, its personal assistant aided by AI and humans

Facebook is killing a buzzy version of its personal assistant "M," which was powered by artificial intelligence and real-life humans. The service, which helped people set up appointments and buy things, was available through a Messenger bot--but only to about 2,000 in California people throughout its two-year lifespan. The company said it would close the project on Jan. 19, The Verge reported. When announced in August 2015, Facebook said M could do more than other AI assistants on the market because it was being "supervised by people." The company never followed through on plans to roll it on a larger scale.