{"id":12346,"date":"2017-04-10T19:42:12","date_gmt":"2017-04-10T23:42:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/promotelabs.com\/blog\/?p=12346"},"modified":"2022-06-16T20:47:02","modified_gmt":"2022-06-17T00:47:02","slug":"chatter-bot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/promotelabs.com\/blog\/chatter-bot\/","title":{"rendered":"Is The Chatter Bot Leveling The Playing Field?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Check out how the chatter bot is leveling the playing field between big and small business owners…<\/span><\/p>\n

We humans have always been a bit fascinated by robots that simulate humans. Hollywood has played to our imagination many times with artificial intelligence robots in starring rolls. Science fiction authors have both thrilled and horrified us while exploring artificial intelligence. And researchers and technology companies have worked hard to bring chatter bots to life.<\/p>\n

Up until relatively recently, the idea of chatting with a bot in your daily life probably sounded preposterous to most people. It was science fiction stuff. Yet now the technology is growing and is accessible to just about everyone on their phones and computers. Nearly everyone you know has probably used this technology a few times \u2013 and it\u2019s set to boom in the very near future as demand for it grows.<\/p>\n

Now here\u2019s the best part:<\/strong> for the first time ever, this amazing technology is available to small business owners just like you to help cut costs, close sales, and grow your business in ways you never imagined.<\/p>\n

Sounds exciting, right? It is. Now before I reveal to you how you can use this technology, let\u2019s take a look back at how it all started.<\/p>\n

Step back in time with me for a moment\u2026<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"FIRSTIt\u2019s 1966, and Joseph Weizenbaum has just developed a chatter bot named ELIZA. ELIZA is one of the first chatter bots to pass the Turing Test, at least initially.<\/p>\n

Are you familiar with the Turing Test? If not, this is pretty cool\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

What happens is that a human is set to blindly play a game against another human and a chatter bot. The human asks questions, and then based on the answers he must determine if he\u2019s talking to a human or a bot. If the bot passes as a human during this game, then the bot is said to have passed the Turing Test.<\/p>\n

Of course most bots eventually give themselves away, since their answers are limited to how they\u2019re programmed and what they\u2019ve learned. However, the fact that chatter bots speak so naturally, and that humans get emotionally attached to them, just shows you how amazing this technology is.<\/p>\n

From ELIZA onward various famous chatter bots appeared, including the so-called schizophrenic PARRY, which was born in 1972 and was quite a bit more advanced than ELIZA.\u00a0 In 1988 Jabberwocky was developed, which moved from a text-based interface to a voice-operated interface. By 1995 ALICE came onto the scene, which was one of the first chatter bots to use heuristics to have a \u201creal\u201d conversation.<\/p>\n

As we entered the 21st<\/sup> century, chatter bots have grown by leaps and bounds. They\u2019ve gone from bots sitting in labs only accessible to researchers, to chatter bots available to everyone in the form of Siri, Amazon\u2019s Alexa, Google\u2019s Voice, Microsoft\u2019s Cortana and similar bots.<\/p>\n

\"\"Now here\u2019s where this gets interesting\u2026<\/strong><\/h1>\n

Remember the whole \u201cthere\u2019s an app for that\u201d saying just a few years back?<\/p>\n

Those developing functions for smart phones, computers and other devices used to assume that everyone wanted to fill their devices with apps to perform as many tasks as possible. But it turns out that people just don\u2019t want to bother with opening and closing a bazillion apps whenever they need something done. They\u2019d rather have a central app \u2013 like a personal assistant \u2013 that can do multiple tasks for them.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why devices such as the Amazon Echo are so popular. These devices don\u2019t even have a graphical-user-interface \u2013 they\u2019re just microphones connected to the internet. Users love the idea of simply saying out loud what they need and having Amazon\u2019s Alexa perform the task or deliver the information.<\/p>\n

The Amazon Echo is just one example of how the Internet of Things is becoming deeply embedded in our lives. Simply put, all of our day-to-day objects are getting connected to the internet. I\u2019m talking everything from your car to your books (Kindle) to your coffee maker to your air conditioner.<\/p>\n

For example, you can tell the Amazon Echo (through Alexa) to turn off your lights, turn on your coffee maker or start your car. You don\u2019t need to run to the object and operate it yourself manually. All you have to do is ask Alexa to do it for you, and Alexa performs the task like a personal assistant. No wonder people get emotionally attached to their chatter bots!<\/p>\n

This progression was predictable to anyone who was paying attention to the technology sectors in the last decade or so. The more that humans can interact with their devices in a naturally human way, the more use and enjoyment they get out of these devices.<\/p>\n

Need proof?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Just think back to the dawning of computer operating systems such as Microsoft Windows. Prior to Windows, those who wanted to operate a computer needed to know a veritable cornucopia of programming commands in order to do the simplest of tasks. It was WAY too geeky for 99% of the population.<\/p>\n

\"ChatterEnter Windows, and now the average person could run a computer simply by pointing and clicking on icons. No programming knowledge required!<\/strong><\/p>\n

And what\u2019s happening now is even more exciting. Today people don\u2019t even have to point and click to get things done \u2013 they just have to ask a chatter bot to perform a task or give them a piece of information. That\u2019s even easier than pointing, clicking or swiping!<\/p>\n

Now as you might suspect, the big companies are beginning to harness this chatter bot technology in very profitable ways. Of course companies such as Apple, Google, Amazon, Microsoft and similar technology companies make money by outfitting their devices and operating systems with their proprietary chatter bots and assistants.<\/p>\n

But beyond that, other companies are beginning to see the value in using bots. For example:<\/strong><\/p>\n