The bot as the interface of choice
The development of bots for just about every task imaginable continues, driven by increasingly simple-to-use tools and the spread of conversational environments.
Fast-growing bot pioneers such as Kik have been joined by Facebook, Telegram, Microsoft, Twitter, along with many others, and have all created an interesting situation: bots are being seen not so much as a way of saving labor costs by replacing humans, and instead are being openly used by companies. At the same time, growing numbers of people seem to prefer talking to bots, seeing them as a more comfortable way to carry out a widening range of tasks.
I have to say that I spent much of the recent Spanish election campaign engaged in an animated conversation with Politibot, an experiment set up by Telegram that kept me much better informed about the campaign than any other medium. There are obviously limitations to such a conversation, and at times, I have to say a little frustrating, but given that I knew I wasn’t bothering anybody, I was able to ask all the questions I wanted, and in some cases, the answers showed exceptional use of the resources available. It’s worth pointing at the Spanish Association of Newspaper Publishers, reflecting its backward-looking approach, is contemplating bringing legal action against Telegram (link in Spanish) for providing free access to the front pages of Spain’s leading newspapers.
Aside from talking about politics, we also have bots that can do just about anything: work Tinder to select dates, interact with our bank, send flowers to your mom, or present our CV. A legal eagle chatbot has even proved able to advise users about how to appeal against parking tickets issued in London and New York, successfully appealing against 160,000, a score rate that suggests the humans working in law firms and carrying out the same tasks are being subjected to mechanical, repetitive tasks.
Chatbots are the future of search engines and customer service, and not just on the basis of reducing costs, but of providing a better service. Wally, from Dilbert, is over the moon about having his emails and messages answered by a (useless like him) bot.
We are facing a moment of changing perceptions: from bots seen as slow and cumbersome to bots able to provide solutions as well as giving companies competitive advantage. They have been taken up wholeheartedly by a generation that hates the telephone and is much more comfortable using a computer to solve their problems.
So next time you have a problem that needs solving, put a bot on it!
(En español, aquí)
