My Life as a Conversation Analyst

How can you get computers to speak naturally? Human language is an elusive frontier. We have multiple interesting articles this week that continue to underscore that the path to the sweet spot of decent general conversation is constant, small increments contributed by multiple organisations across the world. Part of the problem is that we, humanity, don’t really know how we talk, nor do we really know how the brain works.

But we press on, collecting new insights from the frontiers, as well as real world success you can learn from today.

This week we see:

• 🤖A chatbot case study from National Geographic,
• 👄Chatbot innovations from Alexa Prize teams
• 💬An interview with a conversation analyst: what’s the job like?
• 🥃Google’s concierge for booking restaurants by conversing with real people Duplex continues US rollout
• 🏃‍♀️Google Home is catching up to Amazon Echo.

This is not your ordinary news briefing: talk to experts too!
You may have seen this cool new thing a few times now — but as a reminder, this is not just a news briefing, it’s a link to experts on the news topics too! For a private 1:1 chat with experts on the topic, simply click “Ask an expert” button from the article, as below.

Learn from the Pros

National Geographic’s Trivia bot
National Geographic currently has 46 million fans on Facebook. They wanted a new way to engage their Facebook fans and promote their 2019 Almanac.

So they created a daily trivia chatbot using content from the Almanac. A user is given three questions and once a user answers they are given their score. National Geographic’s trivia chatbot has received a great response from their users: 65% of users came back daily
Read more

Smarter Conversations

Flexible, human-like conversations: innovations from Alexa Prize
There are some core problems with today’s conversational AI. During the 2018 Alexa Prize, eight student teams from four countries came up with innovative solutions to these problems.

Such as when chatting about E.T., the chatbot would use public databases to link to related topics, such as the actress Drew Barrymore, and select one at random to encourage further conversation.
Read more

Learn from the Pros

Google Duplex on Pixel 3
When Google demonstrated their Artificial Intelligence, called Duplex, booking restaurant and scheduling appointments as if it were a human conversation, many skeptics in the audience were left wondering whether Google had just pulled a fast one. Turns out, it’s real.

The Pixel 3 will be able to use Google Duplex technology to book appointments in 43 U.S. states.
Read more

Interview with a Chatbot Conversation Analyst
Here’s a spotlight on a new, key role for chatbots: the trainer (aka conversation analyst, chatbot builder): “I was told, ‘The position you’re gonna be placed in is as ambiguous as if I placed you in a dark room and told you to find the light switch”… that’s when I knew it was gonna be fun.”

My first experience with bots was designing a full conversation that finds a recipe for someone from start to finish. Back at Teleperformance, I was a people manager. It all comes down to empathy, understanding different people’s needs.
Read more

Under the Hood

Whodunnit? New update from Allen Institute for plain-English understanding
“The falling large ripe red apple landed safely on the ground. It was then eaten by a pig which was subsequently killed by the farmer and eaten in a stew that made him sick.”

Q: Who was sick?

To us this is obvious, but to computers this is still a really hard problem. Also, that the path to a sweet spot of general understanding is a constant incremental grind, rarely with big breakthroughs but the pace is still impressive — we’re excited for what things may look like in as little as 12–18 months away.
Read more

CognitionX Research

Chatbots in Telecommunications: Business Case Studies (NEW REPORT)
If you’re a senior leader in the telecommunications sector, curious about the potential of a conversational AI strategy, CognitionX’s latest report on chatbot case studies for telcos is designed to help accelerate your ability to create strategies with confidence.

The questions the report explores:

• What does good look like for chatbots in the telecommunications sector?
• What are some examples of successful case studies?
• What do they cost and return-on-investment windows?
• + many others

£195+VAT for one license, £995+VAT for 10 licenses of this report

Register Interest: Chatbots in Telcos

Numbers that Matter

Smart-Speaker Wars: Google vs Amazon
Which smart speaker is leading the way in the West? Google Home is growing rapidly with over 600k more new users than Amazon Echo. Nevertheless, Amazon Echo still leads the way.
Read more