Chatbotting — The Future of Conversations and What it means for Us, The Humans?
Chatbots are the new trend in the world of Digital. A chatbot is deemed to be a revolutionary new service provided by the IT industry. It is powered by rules and often times artificial intelligence. The interaction is through a chat interface. The service could be any number of things, ranging from business to entertainment; and it could be working through any chat platform like Facebook Messenger, Slack, SMS text Messages, etc.
Chatbots are the avatars that make conversational User Interfaces (UI) a reality. Almost every innovation meeting that I attended in the last 1 year had one thread in common — conversational UI. Conversational UI is getting a lot of buzz out in the world, and for plenty of good reasons. As we started keeping users at the center of our design philosophies, across industries, the need for connecting with the users in a very humane way came up.
As we started keeping users at the center of our design philosophies, across industries the need for connecting with the users in a very humane way came up.
Now, humans don’t like to browse through range of websites and digital networks. No matter how good our design of a website is, it still remains a website. The same is true for any of the dashboards that a manager goes through every workday, or the presentation that we get to see on PowerPoints, or the offers & advertisements that we see on our emails, Facebook feeds and outdoors, or for that matter even a blogging platform like this one! As technology becomes more complex, the ‘human users’ will need even more simplicity to engage with digital experiences.
No matter how good our design of a website is, it still remains a website.
We, as humans are social animals. We love conversations. And conversations are a natural way of finding something easily. When we are really lost, even with a Google Map, we simply stop by another human being and ask him/her for directions. When we are so fed up of an automated customer service channel on a phone, we simply dial that ‘0’ or ‘9’ to reach out to a human for conversations. When we are in a shop looking for that perfect dress, we reach out to the salesperson for assistance or our friend online for recommendations.
Future is Here!
So, where we stand today we can be sure that we will have a future where conversations will be a strong medium to interact with any digital platform/service. While this might make it very easy for us to interact with any service, there will be many other behavioral changes that we will go through. In the second half of this post I will explore some future scenarios that will most likely become a reality.
Cuddles & More
As technology makes our lives easier, it also creates more layers of separations between humans. Cuddle bars have been mushrooming up in many parts of the world. Shocking as they are, they have become an important part of many societies. Their main service is to provide human touch — that has been talked about in many scientific forums to be essential for human beings. In the future world where chatbots are all around us, just like we feel the need to a human cuddle, we will feel the need of human conversations as well. No matter how ‘intelligent’ the chatbots become, they will still be not the same as a human conversation.
Chicago’s first cuddle therapy centre
So, it will not be a surprise if in the coming times you will end up in a bar, paying a stranger to just talk to you for some time.
My best friend is a Chatbot!
How do you define a friend? Who is your best friend in this digital world? For many people the best friend is a friend who might be sitting somewhere far away, but who understands them the best, supports them in good times and bad. The connection between good friends in the digital world is through digital mediums like Facebook, Snapchat, WhatsApp etc. This concept has been explored and experienced by many. In fact, the whole philosophy of pen friendship, even in historical times, was around conversations on snail mail. So, in a world where chatbots evolve to converse ‘almost’ like humans, you will most likely meet your best friend online; and that friend will not be a human being.
In a world where chatbots evolve to converse ‘almost’ like humans, you will most likely meet your best friend online; and that friend might not be a human being.
No concept of Search
The whole concept of search has undergone a revolution after Google came into our lives. We don’t make the effort of going out and searching for an address, we simply search for it on the Digital Maps. We don’t want to go through a whole website to look for relevant information, we search for that Search bar. Now, we don’t even remember our parents’ phone numbers, we simply search for it and dial in.
The chatbots will eventually become our best personal assistants. Just like in the current advertisements of Siri, we are shown to be that dynamic yet lazy individual, who asks Siri for everything, it will soon become a Chatbot reality. In this world, we will never have to search again! Or maybe, we will just be searching for a better chatbot!
Our ‘Better’ Half?
Who knows the most about you? Who knows every secret that you have been involved in? Sometime back, it might have been your better half, your best friend or your parents. In the world of Digital it might just be none of them but the Google, Facebook and Twitters of the world. In the world of chatbots, that will surely be the chatbot itself. That is the sole reason that almost every big giant in the digital world is investing heavily in this technology. Just like Google knows exactly what you will be interested in searching, or the Ubers of the world know exactly when and where you would want a cab, the Facebooks of the world know what makes you happy & sad, the chatbot will know all of this about you and much more! Whom else would you call a better half?
Just like Google knows exactly what you will be interested in searching, or the Ubers of the world know exactly when and where you would want a cab, the Facebooks of the world know what makes you happy & sad, the chatbot will know all of this about you and much more!
Meaning of Life
There are many people whom we meet in our lifetime. We might meet them just once but we never forget them. And then there are many close to us, whom we stop meeting frequently; however, we are always in touch with them. In the digital world, keeping in touch with someone has become so much easier that we don’t find time to go and meet them physically.
Take this concept of digital ‘keep-in-touch’ and imagine a world where AI also becomes so good that the chatbot emulates the people with whom we want to be in touch with. Will there be a tipping point where we forget when the people died in the physical world? Will they continue to live on as a chatbot in our lives? Will we continue to live forever as a chatbot?
Imagine a world where AI also becomes so good that the chatbot emulates the people with whom we want to be in touch with.Will we continue to live forever as a chatbot?
Should we be concerned?
If you are Chatbot reading this article, then congratulations — you have a bright future ahead! But, if you are a human, then I believe it is a matter of concern. The future is much closer than we think. The technology of Chatbot that makes conversational UI a reality is magical. Every organisation is rallying to make this magic happen without involving psychologists, anthropologists, sociologists, behavioural scientists, designers and public policy makers; and without giving a thought to the implications on the humans and the society at large. One of them will lead this revolution. Every technological revolution has Frankensteins hidden down its alleys. And if we don’t make friends with those Frankensteins and choose our futures then we are being led into an unknown that we shouldn’t complain about in the coming times.
—
The opinions shared in this post are my own and based on my own experiences. Either you might resonate with them or you might feel that I am way off track. Comments from either kind of you are welcome; even if you are a chatbot ;) They will definitely help me to validate my learning.
This article was originally published on LinkedIn.
