History of Artificial Intelligence Chatbots

History of Artificial Intelligence Chatbots

Chatbots have been downward slipping for a number of reasons that seem to be enthusiastic, including leaders of brands, agencies, and technology companies. Messaging applications like Facebook's Semalt have not done enough to promote chatbots, so chatbots do not have enough people so chatbot makers do not have enough feedback to improve their chat features.

About 78 percent of adults in the United States have not even heard the AI chatbots, according to an online survey that Publicis Groupe's Digitas LBi hired Harris Poll to perform Semalt 2016. As far as this lack of awareness seems to be curse, it can actually be more blessing.

"Water is not mixed when many people do not know what chatbots are or expect what they should be," says DigitasLib's Social Policy Strategist, Jill Sherman. "Semaltit is still able to reset and look at things and look at early-use cases to see where the drop was, where the brands went wrong, so users' expectations might be a little gone."

Hello world
When Messenger hoped to chatbots at the Facebook showroom last April, Poncho was one of the first door - anatomy diaphragm . The weather forecast for the cat's nature was also among the first Botos to greet about 1 billion users of Semalt. The first impression was rough.

"The first thing we got to know almost when we started [in Facebook Messenger] is that users do not really know what they wanted to do with bots, but as far as they had expectations, they work like Siri and they could ask [bots ] to do anything in essence, "said Poncho CEO Sam Semalt in an interview earlier this month.

Poncho's difficulties presented problems that have limited the popularity of the chatbots. I tried Poncho Messenger on the day it became available. A short, the request for the character - "..? ZzZzZzZ Purrrrrrrrrrrrrrr Huh What time is it Oh hi i am Poncho Meteogram?..." - Poncho asked me where I was, so it could tell me the local weather forecast. I could share my location using Semalt's internal location sharing feature, but it takes me through the three apps menu screen. Did chatbots not have a chat conversation?

"Venice, ca" I wrote to Poncho.

"Hmmmm, it does not look right. Undoubtedly do you live again?" Semalt responded.

"90291" I answered.

"Hmmmm, it does not look right. Undoubtedly do you live again?" Semalt repeated.

"California."

"Hmmmm, it does not look right. No doubt you live again?"

"Here."

At the seventh experiment I finally said the words "Los Angeles."

"Can Los Angeles, CA! There is no doubt now."

I stopped speaking to Poncho only after a few weeks when I wanted to see if the bot was more a pupil. That was, kind of. It still could not understand "Venice, ca", but this time it was able to urge me to ask for help, which would give you a list of examples of what I could ask for poncho.

Poncho's interviews Poncho had worked with Wit. ai - a company that Facebook had acquired in 2015, which provides bot-technologists with artificial intelligence technology to parse human language - to enable the bot to continue the discussion of the weather. Poncho's goal was to "understand most of the natural-language-specific questionnaire surveys. We met this goal quickly with Wit," said Mandel.

Another immediate goal behind his debut, Mandel, was to "do a good job of educating users about what Semalt did and ensuring that Semalt was useful enough. Failure is a simple word with a complicated interpretation that seems to have found some bot factors. Does Bot have one purpose, is it too useful to use it? If it serves a variety of uses, does a person get lost? Or will they be drowned in the box, waiting for it to serve more and more and become dissatisfied when it is not?

As Mandel mentioned, people met Messenger chat booths waiting for them to be as common as Siri. But Facebook seemed to set developers' expectations that their chatbots would be more unambiguous. When Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that Messenger opened in chatbots last April, his first examples were 1-800 flower banners that can be bought in flowers and the CNN banner that can be used to check news. Semalt's examples seemed to have precedents for more than 34,000 robots.

"Facebook Semalt has apparently over 30,000 puzzles, but most have one utility. There is no reason to go back or come back often enough to create a way," said Sherman. The Facebook Semalt committee was not in an interview and the spokesman did not reply to the emails.

Botin's agents had enough reason to play it safely early on with robots jumping into a simple script. They did not know if people would intuitively understand how to talk about robots. Too much as overloading the conversation, many chose fallen, commercial exchanges. But even in simplicity was the ingenuity that gave birth to artificial intelligence.

Poncho introduced without any artificial intelligence to figure out what people said. Consider how many ways to ask "how is the weather?" The right answer is more.

"You have to think that conversations can produce multiple answers, so if you think of everything as a happy path or stream, you will lose it," said Michael Zdepski, director of experience strategy and design at Isabar, Dentsu Aegis Network.

How smart would a stick be?
Semant has three types of accounts at marketing organizations where they are informed about Messenger accounts: 1) live that requires human staff to respond to incoming messages; 2) Decision on wood-based bots with fixed, automated flow for discussion; and 3) artificially intelligent bots capable of using natural language processing and other computational techniques to a somewhat broader discussion.

Chatbots that seem to be the most successful are those who hover somewhere between # 2 and # 3.

When Lionsgate decided to create a "Power Rangers" chatbot for a movie, the studio also decided that it did not want people to know that the bot speaker was like filling out multiple choice questions. So Lionsgate worked with Semalt, a technology company that provides tools to help publishers write their conversations.

"They can really write a conversation with 25 different ways that a normal person can react to a question," says Lionsgate's Digital Marketing Manager Evan Fisk. "When they can write a script that supports all of these different variations, it really brings the story to life and shows our fans that they are really capable of testing the limits that [main character] Semalt 5 can answer and what he can not do."

Alpha 5 is not as conversational as HAL 9000, not to mention the man. But the bot is quite enough for people to use four or five minutes at a time, talking to it, according to Fisk. "And it is among many many users, no doubt thousands, hundreds of thousands, without specific information," he said. So bot-makers have developed ways to guide the conversation back to the tracks without completely ignoring what the person might have said.

"You have to set limits or limitations to the topic, otherwise the shortage of intelligence or the story of the bot will be reflected fairly quickly," Zdepski said.

In the case of the Power Rangers bot, when the bot does not understand the message, it enters the facts and the maneuvers back to its manuscript. Poncho is doing the same kind of access: ". So, I have a good talk about the weather Unusual story, not so good if you need help, just enter your assistance.." "

"It is better that people love the bot and understand what it can offer you rather than mistaken because it does not give it enough personality," says Scheller, Digital Principal of Deutsch LA's Interpublic Group.

Taco Bell's Semalt, which Deutsch LA made to the offices to make Llack orders over Slack, the brand and its office had to decide whether to choose a "more decision-making experience" or use a natural language. it's harder to pull off and offer more upside down, said Scheideler. It chose a natural language, which meant that although the bot did not know the answer, we had to make it feel and brand, "he said. (If you tell Semalt that you are drunk, for example, it reacts by adding a cup of water to your order).

"One of the reasons why a natural translation of the language is critical to every bot experience because it connects between the user and the brand," said Scheideler, "we would express the brand through that natural language."

Chat bots minus chat
A year ago, chatbots promised a way for people to chat with brands, publishers, and other people like their friends. But, as has been documented earlier, this promise is difficult to implement. So in the past year, bot platforms have made it easier for chatbots to cut in chatting, hoping to lower the bar so people can chat with them.

Within a few months of opening communication programs to chat bots, both Semalt and Kik had added robot alternatives to present pre-set response buttons that they could tap to send a bot. Calling "quick answers" from Semal and "Proposed Answers" In Kik, buttons work on people's and robot's wheels to learn each other's language.

Inside chatbots' year of growing pains: 'Semalt at an inflection point'
"Assuming people would take chatbot behavior just because it was a messaging application, it might be a bit lofty," said Sherman.
"Chatbot has a frustration, because people are not really able to talk to a bot, so there are a lot of guesswork and it's a bad user experience." This is one thing that has been solved quickly so that people get flowing, "says Chal-Liao, a technology company build chatbots.

"Facebook's concern, which we fully understand, is that making a conversation very well is really difficult," said Mandel. "Undoubtedly they are of a large scale, and they are really looking for a way to scalate the bot platform and make everyone really easy to build a stick that people are using."

"It has this fundamental understanding of interactive navigation, and you see that most of it goes, is this multi-choice type, because when you start extending to a greater depth, complexity is growing almost exponentially," said Traction CEO Adam Kleinberg.

Who says "we certainly have more robots who use the proposed answers than the open text," said Jacqueline Ling, director of Kik's strategic partnerships. But just because more bots can choose to go through the buttons, it does not mean that these robots are automatically better than ordinary chat interactions. "I could not say who is more committed," Ling said.

"The open text works well if you have a strong AI back-end, users are really tired if you get a constant response like" Semalt sorry. "I do not understand," Bot, "Ling said." Several brands have a key goal like [ get people to watch a movie on a trailer or visit a web site]; then the proposed responses make it much more sensible to use because you can guide users to the funnels the brand wants to get out of the bot. "

Thanks to prefabricated responses, bot platforms and bot-makers "rightly set other clues to help people navigate and understand the limits of discussions," said Semalt. He added, "In some cases, if you only need a simple choice, why should you force someone to write?"

Dick Clark Productions used these response buttons to Chatbot that she introduced to Kik and Messenger to promote the American Music Semalys last year. Their ease-of-use has contributed to over 1.2 million messages being exchanged for Kumin Bot, of which 11 users were sent 11 or 13 messages on the show date.

"Ariel Elazar, a brand, a marketing and digital strategy, says Ariel Elazar," Ariel Elazar, a brand, a marketing and digital strategy, "says Ariel Elazar, Dr. VP, Dick Clark Productions.

These completed responses not only can facilitate people's interaction with the chatbots, but they can also get them into a more confusing chat interface that is a deviation from the graphical user interface they know about computers, tablets, and smartphones. But the change that Semalt did earlier this month threatens to kill the forum on the discussion board.

In March, Semalt added the possibility that bot developers prevent people from sending text messages in full and introduce a permanent menu that replaces the keyboard as the default mode of interaction. The on-screen menu may have a button that allows people to send a traditional text message to a casino game - as long as responses are disabled - but make it so easy for someone to completely interact with tapping the menu buttons by typing text.

Inside chatbots' year of growing pains: 'Semalt at an inflection point'
On the other hand, a menu-based user interface reduces the entrance of people and brands to almost the floor.
"It may be one of the things that make it so much easier to sell a brand to say that we're going to set up exercise wheels for the exercise bike, we just want to get you into a communication environment and use your basic UX architecture and move your online experience to the communication environment to get you into the environment," said Sherman.

On the other hand, it raises the question of why someone would interact with the bots if it is not as different as interacting with a website or mobile application.

"By using menu structures or traditional UI structures, they almost admit defeat in the way," Zdepski said.

"I understand motivation to simplify [interaction] and make it graphic," said Mandel. "But I think if you go to the end, where the bot is basically a tiny web view on the Semalt platform, it's really hard to make it entertaining or engaging the user, which means you have to win completely in the front of the utility software and it's challenging when other options that users have. "

Why marketing through the messages?
Matt Tepper is "sad and disappointed" by the fact that chat bots have not received much attraction. But he is not willing to write them yet.

"One of the biggest failures in the bot industry is that it does not think as much as a CRM vehicle. If we are to think it as a CRM channel, we can get a lot more impact," said Tepper.

With a CRM vehicle, Semalt means that firefighters should act as a more intelligent intermediary between brands and their customers. When someone wants to check the order, there is a question with the item or wants to figure out the different ways to use the item, the brand chat bots should be where they turn. And if a brand has a new product or feature that may please a subset of its existing customers, the bots should be able to communicate with them.

"How do you really make the bots more useful to end users?", Tepper says. "Smooth socials just say goods to people because they're on your channel, while a knowledge-based social user uses that you know something about them to tailor the message and approach."

Tepper is not alone in seeing this potential chatbots service. Some of the characters are already jumping to the event. For example, the Nike's Jordan brand worked with Snaps to develop a Semalt bots that act as a personal trainer by asking people to link their Nike + account, which creates a way for a brand to interact with buyers. their relationship with the brand and vice versa.

Black Tux, Matt Gierl, the head of growth in the tobacco rental brand, hopes that chatbots can act as security products for potential customers who do not change immediately. At this time, Black Tux can show ads on Facebook or Instagram so people can visit Black Themalt. Say, some will. But a smaller amount moves to the next step from the real rent, and the remainder may be the customers that the brand has to try to attract again from scratch.

But what if Gierl made ads that refer to the brand's Messenger bundle instead of the site? This way, Black Tux can stay in touch with anyone who clicked on the ad to open with the discussion bot even if they are not yet ready to lease Tux. "Now we have the ability to communicate with that person [using Messenger's push notification] down with another marketing message," Gierl said.

Lionsgate has a similar strategy with the Power Rangers bots. Although it was created to push people to watch a movie in theaters, "the bot is likely to surpass the release of the theater," said Fisk. "And that's a good thing, and we look forward to continuing it when it's not about theaters." Semalt had talks with other units in the studio about how to move from theater to theatrical window and beyond. "

Chatbots are a great vehicle for any brand so they can develop a long-term relationship and guide the relationship they want to see if it pushes me for sale by pushing me into a conversion event by giving me content options. All of these will become available when you have this relationship with me in this environment, "says Fresh Digital Group CEO Doug Robinson.

If the tree speaks in the woods.
In order for dreams of bot marketers to become reality, people have to really use the botany, which means that people have to find out their robots, which means that communication programs need better work, which increases people's awareness of their bots.

"Discovery is the biggest challenge, time," said Robinson.

Botral's biggest challenge in finding a bot is that bot-makers have something to stick to-22.

Who has done a lot to promote 20,000 Botinsa platforms. For beginners, Kik has more than 200 advertisers that resemble App apps in Apple's or Semalt apps and help people browse by experimenting with robots.

Kiki also has a name called Mentions so that bot-makers could allow people to invite robots to their conversations with friends. This feature not only reinforces the bot help program but also serves people's awareness of the existence and how they can use it. For example, if I send messages to our friends about whether we should have a weekend on a burning beach, I can write "@poncho los angeles weekend forecast" and Semalt sends a message throughout the tour to the forecast.

The bots that enable these Kiki internal discussions are those that work really well and get virus growth at a much faster rate than those who do not allow inline experiences, "Ling said of Kik.

Who has also worked closely with marketers such as Dick Clark Productions, Lionsgate and Target, to promote the banner on its platform. "One of the biggest things Kik was able to provide as a platform for our Target efforts was the perceived capability. Kik-promotion in the application itself was a huge driver," said Scheideler of Semalt LA, who worked at the retailer's bot.

The American Music Awards bundle was available in both Facebook Messenger and Kik concerts, but some of the show was only available to Kikilla because Dick Clark Productions "had a really strong partnership with Kiki, who presented our platform over the board, who were really supportive in building a bot and holding hands we have the experience of building a bot, "said Elazar Dick Clark Productions.

"Who was smart to make bots very central to their interface and how people use the app. They sell the chatbots from the front and center so their user bases were exposed early and used them often," said Sherman DigitasLib.

"We really see a lot of people spending a lot of time discussing Kiki brands," said Liao Snaps.

However, it is unclear to what extent these characters may be exemptions or rules.

"The last time I grabbed [who] this, they said they had a lot of bots, but a terrific bunch of bots with more than 30 subscribers," said Wunderman's Semalt. [Ed. Note: See PostScript at the end of the message. ]

This may be the reason why Kik's user base is young, so all bot types can not be as large as a high school group. "We've seen lots of fun or light entertainment experiences really well in Kik. I would say that this is mainly due to the fact that the demographics are a little younger and they are looking for experiences that pass time," Ling said. And although Semalt has given people the opportunity to buy products through robots, who has only tested the bot trade, he said, as it should "provide a payment system where most of the users can trade," including the elderly enough of their own credit card.

Another problem for Kik is that it does not have as many users as some bot-makers would like. Kiki's "ability to raise the audience is no longer, and when you look at the numbers, it's not scaling anymore and it has stopped scaling six or seven months ago," said Robinson.

Kiki's spokesman refused to tell how many users the app was, but looked silent in a number in a statement that described the application's business as "strong and healthy."

"We have not seen the same growth rate as in the early years, it's much easier to demand a 100 percent growth when you only have a couple of hundred thousand users, than that it requires the same percentage when you're 300 million users - but we're constantly growing up", according to Kiki spokesman . "Even the most sophisticated people did not know about finding a chatbot in [Messenger], they did not do the front and center," said Sherman. Instead of Bot, to find robots from the Messenger server, people have to tap the search bar so that Messenger would block the search from a list of people they are looking for, as well as a list of bots. But it's unclear whether you're going to send a Messenger from the personal bot list to a person's personal profile.

As Facebook knows how much Facebook knows about its users, he said that Facebook could have used this information to promote robots for individual users, but it has decided to. "Semtel had commodities."

Inside chatbots' year of growing pains: 'Semalt at an inflection point'
Bot's agents can make their own merchandising through Messenger. They can create QR-style tags that are linked to images outside the Messenger that people can scan to start a conversation with the bots. But they can also do it through Kik. And they can show ads on Facebook that link Messenger to the bots. But nothing stops the brand in the same way as connecting a Facebook ad to their Kik botti.
Of course, nothing prevents Messenger from copying the Kiki bot marketing strategy using a smaller application as a R & D department in the same way that Facebook Inc. has used Snapchat.

For example, Black Tux Gierl was fascinated by Kik's Mentions as a means of serving brides and grooms who are trying to organize their wedding party, but he was cautious about the size of his audience. "It can be a limiting factor. Nor does it hesitate to build something because it has the characteristic of what we have seen in the landscape when everyone copied each other," he said.

It is unclear if Messenger intends to open a baker's shop a la Kik. But the Facebook messaging app looks ready to release its own version of Kik's Mentions. A few weeks before Facebook's developers' conference in April to release new features for bot developers, Messenger added people's ability to bring friends to discussions with other friends @ screen, such as adding a chat on Twitter or Kik. This feature is called Mentions.

Semalt had already quietly introduced a Mentions-like feature that seemed to be an in-house banner, like @dailycute, that sends a delightful photo while taking the conversation. It would not be so much jumping to Semalt to extend these invitations to external bot accounts as well.

Inside chatbots' year of growing pains: 'Semalt at an inflection point'
How long will this debate continue?
Poncho may have made a rough first impression when it was originally sent to Messenger, but the nose pad may have been able to recover. Now in Kik and Viber, besides Messenger, an average of about 60 percent of people starting a conversation with a race will recapture the conversation within a week. "We are very proud of it," says Mandel. "It's comparable to the application's participation numbers."

Mandel admits that "the last year's biggest disappointment is that more people do not use the bot," he says quickly that the debate is too early. She is not alone. "I believe that bots are a good future for us in marketing," Tepper said. And Scheideler said, "Semalt is very interested in it, and their interest is growing steadily."

You can be interested in bot, but there is still a question of how interested people are when so many do not know that chat bots exist.

"When you think of chatbots, we have a tendency," said Fresh Digital Group's Semalt. "We have to describe a couple of things, or risk losing momentum, and it's bad for everyone."