Invasion of the Chatbots
If you grew up in the 80’s, you’ll probably remember this spine-chilling scene in Poltergeist. This scene explains how I feel about what’s looming in the year ahead (but less creepy).
The title probably makes it pretty obvious what I’m talking about—Chatbots. They’ve existed for years on Twitter, and apps like Kik and Telegram. But it’s rather recent that they’ve started gaining attention from VC’s, like Fred Wilson, who believes Slack bots will become the next big thing in enterprise software. And Mark Zuckerberg, who’s building his own digital assistant.
But why now? Why chatbots?
Because the tech industry is shipwrecked and needs something to get it sailing again. The web is rotting. Mobile apps are dead. AI is the future. Right? It sure seems like it.
Why do chatbots matter?
As humans evolve, we have expectations that things will get faster and become more convenient. Chatbots invoke these expectations by entering our lives programmed to serve our needs. Unlike the web and mobile apps, where design often gets in the way, chatbots remove this layer of design. And instead of interacting with images, fonts, and ui components, your experience is based on the intelligence of the chatbot. As chatbots learn more about you— your likes, dislikes, patterns, and behaviors, the better they’ll be able to serve you.
I believe adoption is going to be high, because you won’t have to go far to find chatbots, they’ll be coming to you and appearing in drones on Slack, Facebook, WhatsApp, or whatever messaging app you prefer.
Big companies will most likely drive the chatbot growth. Like a “coffeebot”, who’s connected to a Starbucks api that is reminding you that you’ve not gotten your daily cup of joe. And then asks if you’d like someone to bring you a mocha (mmm…), which could then ping Postmates.
How about a location aware “eatbot” that pops up in Facebook Messenger when you’re near one of your favorite restaurants and tells you about their specials on the menu. And then asks if you’d like to make a reservation.
The use cases are endless, which makes it very exciting. The opportunities seem huge. But with opportunity comes risk.
The Dangers
One of the dangers with an over abundance of chatbots is the potential for a “annoybot” breakout. Since building chatbots is becoming easier, developers need to be hyperaware of the emotional impact their chatbots are making on humans. When chatbots get in our way, or become annoying, they will fail.
If you’ve made it down here, then you’re probably somewhat interested in this stuff too. Cool!
Checkout Humblebot, my first Slack chatbot. Also, checkout HeyTaco!, my recognition and appreciation bot.
Follow @dosberg for updates on other chatbots I’m currently working on.
