Yahoo launches group organising chatbot to Facebook Messenger

Yahoo Captain chatbot MessengerSoon-to-be Verizon-owned Yahoo has introduced a chatbot to Messenger – after introducing the bot to text messaging in the US last month.

‘Captain’ works to help streamline organisation among groups through shared task lists and reminders. The chatbot can be accessed through Facebook’s new chat extensions feature in the Messenger app.

“Use Captain to figure out who’s bringing what on your next backpacking trip or plan for an upcoming potluck dinner – without leaving Messenger,” said Conrad Wai, VP of product management at Yahoo, in a blog post. “With Captain, you can make plans with your favourite people without overloading them with tons of notifications and long, unorganized lists of requests and questions.”

The bot is part of a wave of bots arriving in Facebook’s Messenger app – as announced during Mark Zuckerberg’s keynote address at Facebook’s annual F8 developer conference.

“We are delighted that Yahoo is launching Captain on Messenger,” said Stan Chudnovsky, VP of product for Messenger. “This bot will help users simplify group coordination, which can get harder the larger the group and longer the thread. This experience makes that interaction seamless.”