Facebook Messenger is about to become filled with bots

M won’t be the only artificial intelligence on Facebook Messenger. Facebook has given some developers access to an unannounced Chat SDK that allows them to build interactive experiences and “bots” in Messenger for shopping, booking travel, and more, sources with direct knowledge of the SDK confirm. The Chat SDK allows developers to create bots that users can send text messages to directly and that automatically respond with information, images, location services, product prices, Buy buttons, and more. The Chat SDK can also tap into Messenger built-in payments system to let users make purchases via bots. Facebook hasn’t publicized any of the documentation for the Chat SDK, which is currently being shared with developers through PDF documents. The project is in part led by Facebook Messenger’s head of strategic partnerships Bryan Hurren. Facebook declined to comment. While it’s only in limited release right now, the Chat SDK could flourish into a more open platform beyond its early big-name partnership experiments like Uber. At first it might seem odd that Facebook would help developers build Messenger bots that might compete with its own hybrid human/AI assistant. But one of the big goals of M is to differentiate Messenger as a chat app with super powers, and make it what people want to use for everyday communication instead of SMS or other competitors.