Page 29 - The EDIT | Q3 2017

you look at most Chatbots today, for instance on FB Messenger, they try to limit the actual conversation
as much as possible, and
divert users to use buttons instead. If we consider
Chatbots as ultimate tools
to save time and to make
our lives easier then this
make complete sense,
especially considering the limitations of NLP. However,
the question remains: does
it provide a better and more efficient experience to the user,
in comparison to other interfaces?
I think we (the bot community) started
looking at bots from the wrong angle. I think we tried to teach Chatbots to be able to speak too soon.
“Much like a baby who needs years of listening before it speaks its rst words, a good Chatbot should listen and learn before it starts to speak.”
If you follow this approach, the most exciting Chatbots are probably not even launched yet, or not in a form of a Chatbot because the algorithms and the application are currently being taught. They are listening and learning to speak.
What do you expect to see in the coming 12 months in terms of Chatbot developments and the opportunities they present?
I am convinced that we’ll reach a new level of sophistication soon. Many more businesses will try Chatbots in the next months as the entry barrier
Discovery
has become very low, and many people learned how to put a
simple Chatbot together in a relatively short time. However,
I think there will be a clear distinction between
Chatbots that are ‘nice to have’ and Chatbots that provide real consumer value. After dipping their
toes in the cold water with simple Chatbots, some businesses might
get disappointed and won’t invest much in future Chatbot
developments while others will realize that a Chatbot is a complex application that needs both attention and
investment in order to get it right.
The hard part is still to build a proper ecosystem, where Chatbots are interconnected to services, and where they can solve tasks in a more efficient and faster way. I am hoping to see more emphasis on integration and focus on the foundations that go deep beneath the surface and the conversation interface. To achieve this level of sophistication, a large amount of work needs to be done on the platform providers side as well — they are far
from perfect.
“If we are driving this industry forward, I think this eld presents an opportunity for new platform solutions to emerge and rise in the next 1 to 2 years and fast track the progress of Chatbots. Disclaimer... we are working on one too.”
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