Facebook M
Facebook M was a piece of functionality within a messaging platform (Messenger), but unlike Google Allo’s Smart Reply it goes beyond an algorithm. Facebook M utilizesd “Human trainers [who] gamely do their best when they receive tough queries like ‘Arrange for a parrot to visit my friend,’” (Simonite, 2017) that are impossible for a machine learning algorithm.

It was not uncommon for misunderstandings to materialize because of users’ and interfaces’ contrasting mental models. For instance, Facebook M received numerous unachievable requests, because “with limited, fully automated assistants like Siri or Alexa, people tend to settle into using a few functions they find to work reliably. [But w]ith M,” (Simonite, 2017) a user’s notion of what is possible is flawed, leading to ineffective “interchaning[ings] of thoughts and words.” (OED Online, 2017)
Connection
Facebook M’s implementation of backup processes is insightful, the consideration of backups while costly could help me overcome limitations in natural language processing.

