A.I.? N.O.!

In full disclosure, during the two-year stretch I had an iPhone, I availed myself of the artificial intelligence feature Siri, perhaps on a dozen occasions.

Truth be told, she kind of creeped me out – sort of like a female version of Hal from 2001, A Space Odyssey, although I’m sure, far less malevolent. And I would guess she was helpful maybe 50 percent of the time.

And now that I have an Android, I’ve yet to use the Google Now app.

But my feelings toward A.I. notwithstanding, it’s a concept that’s not going away anytime soon. 

This week I read that Facebook (which I’ve certainly used more than a dozen times since I signed aboard) is beta testing a trial of a new service in its Messenger feature, an A.I. assistant called M.

For now, it will be referred to by the single letter although several reports –though as yet unconfirmed  - have alluded to the fact that it will eventually be christened  “Moneypenny,” after the lovelorn and highly efficient assistant to international superspy James Bond.

So according to Facebook, M will be a hybrid of A.I .and human overseers/supervisors who will ensure that each query put through the system is answered.

But unlike Siri and similar A.I. features, M has the capability to complete a task for users, such as store purchases, schedule deliveries, book dining reservations and facilitate travel arrangements, although said users will have to type requests on the home screen.

Currently, M will be tested and offered to a small number of residents in the Bay Area of California (where else?)

According to Facebook, its Messenger feature now boasts roughly 700 million users globally and depending in the success of M, could extend the time users spend on the application.

Call me old fashioned, but I prefer to make my own dinner reservations or order something from Amazon. I’ll leave it to far brighter minds than mine to ascertain the future of A.I.

For now the woman on the GPS and traffic-centric app Waze will be the only A.I. voice I want to hear.