Part of the problem is that Apple's talking digital assistant is built on old technology. But even if the company upgrades Siri to the latest in artificial intelligence, she'll fall well short of an assistant made of flesh, blood, and neurons. As far as artificial intelligence has come in the last few years, it's still a long way from intelligence.

With M, its new virtual assistant, Facebook admits as much.

Built atop Facebook Messenger—the company's instant messaging app—M made its debut this morning, arriving on the phones of a few hundred unsuspecting souls in the San Francisco Bay Area. Yes, it's the company's answer to Siri and similar services like Google Now and Microsoft Cortana. But it tackles a broader range of tasks, at least as Facebook describes it. You can ask M questions along the lines of Can you make me dinner reservations? or even Can you help me plan my next vacation?—and it will comply.