Oct 4, 2018 - Curious about chatbots? We've gathered some examples of chatbots in apps, to help you understand how it's shaping the mobile user.
Once, a messenger app did just that – message. But with the rise of artificial intelligence, tech companies are falling over themselves to prove how much more useful and interactive their apps can be – which is why you’re about to see an explosion of “bots”.
Kik, the mobile chat application popular with teenagers, launched its Bot Shop on 5 April, and Facebook is poised to launch its own bot store for Facebook Messenger next week. Every brand from Barbie to the Washington Post seems to be working on a chat bot of its own.
For Kik, chat bots are the next step in the evolution of the internet. “First there were websites, then there were apps. Now, there are bots,” the company’s developer kit boasts.
What are chat bots?
Chat bots are computer programs that mimic conversation with people using artificial intelligence. They can transform the way you interact with the internet from a series of self-initiated tasks to a quasi-conversation.
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The Kik Bot Store is launching with 16 bots, including the Weather Channel, H&M, Vine and Funny or Die. But the open platform will allow developers to add their own, as long as they comply with Kik’s teen-centric standards (no porn allowed), so expect more soon.
Without a chat bot, a user might direct his browser to weather.com, then type in their zip code to get the forecast. With the Kik’s Weather Channel bot, a user can send a chat asking for “Current Conditions” or a “3-Day Forecast” and the bot will reply with your answer.
How good is it?
The weather bot is smart – it remembers your zip code – but not too smart. Ask it “How hot is it?” and the bot prompts you to stick to its prescribed inputs (“Current Conditions”; “3-Day Forecast” etc).
The weather bot also has its own pre-programmed, passive-aggressive personality. When you turn off its suggested function of sending you a chat with the day’s weather every morning at 7am (a tad early, but thanks), it replies: “Tired of me pinging you super useful info every morning? Well, fine! Just let me know when you miss me ;-)”.
Kik’s Vine bot simply asks what kind of Vines you might want to see, then sends you something it thinks you might like – a video-centric spin on Google’s “I’m Feeling Lucky” button.
The H&M bot injects an inquisitive sales associate into your online shopping experience. First the bot prompts you to teach it about your style through a series of questions (pick which look you like out of two photographs), then it starts to recommend outfits.
If you like an article of clothing, the H&M bot sends you to its mobile website to buy it. But it’s not hard to imagine that soon you’ll be able to chat, “Charge it to my Visa and ship it overnight to my home address.”
What else can they do?
At the moment, chat bots are basically replacing individual apps. Rather than closing Facebook Messenger and opening Uber, you can simply message Uber and ask for a ride.
San Francisco-based startup Assist is a chat bot that folds a host of services – including hailing a ride, ordering delivery, buying baseball tickets, scheduling a hair cut and sending flowers – into a single chat contact.
Rather than download individual apps to Uber, Postmates, Seamless, Opentable, Stubhub, Florist One and Great Clips, a user can simply send a chat to Assist from inside his preferred chat platform (Facebook Messenger, Slack, Telegram, or Kik) and tell Assist what he wants.
If you prefer the feel of sending a text to filling out a field, you’ll prefer the chat bot experience.
What could go wrong?
In a word, Tay.
In March, Microsoft launched a Twitter chatbot named “Tay” that was supposed to have conversations with Twitter users and learn how to sound like a “millennial”.
Instead, it learned how to love Hitler and hate feminism.
Tay is an object lesson in how artificial intelligence can be “taught” all the wrong things. Fortunately, the humans who build the bots appear to have learned some lessons: if you chat “Hitler” to Kik’s Vine bot, it responds, “Sorry we’re keeping this PG-13. Try again!”
Thanks to machine learning and an increasingly connected world, artificial intelligence (AI) is seeing a surge. From the video games you play, to the virtual assistant on your smartphone — and even customer support — AI is making its way into our daily lives.
But there’s also a fun side to the phenomenon with chatbots.
Chatbots of every type are popping up in apps. You can get yourself a virtual romantic partner. You can talk to a bot about your feelings. You can even have banter with bots that have learned from less virtuous chatters. Here are five of the most interesting chatbots that show just how fun and bizarre the chatbot industry is.
1. Replika: The Mini-Me Chatbot
Replika is a recently released AI chatbot that has lofty goals: to become your close friend. However, the most interesting feature about the bot is that you can train it to become a mini version of yourself.
Through conversations and sessions where you record your daily experiences, the bot learns about you and tries to mimic your personality. Your input is vital to its development, as you can upvote and downvote responses. You can also make statements such as “That doesn’t make sense” to get your Replika to stop using a certain response or phrase.
The app also has different modes of conversation. In normal mode, your Replika’s responses are based on what you’ve taught it. In TV and Cake Mode, the bot riffs responses free from your influence.
![Chat Bots App Chat Bots App](https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1200/1*e8v1xC0NTgoduh_ei9F7Pw.png)
Over time the bot gains experience and levels, with badges awarded according to how your Replika views your personality (e.g., dedicated). To learn about you, the bot is programmed to be inquisitive. However if it prods too much or wants to discuss something you’re uncomfortable with, you can tell it to stop or change the topic. With regular input, it grows smarter and gives more realistic responses in conversations.
While it’s an entertaining distraction and the bot can act as an interactive journal, most of the excitement lies in its ongoing development. The developers are currently using community feedback and polling to chart the course of the AI’s future.
So far, the most votes have gone to introducing games to the bot and unlocking secret modes. However the more exciting prospect is the one with the third highest number of votes — the ability for your bot to chat autonomously with other people.
Download:Replika (Free)
2. SimSimi: The TrollBot
SimSimi is that obnoxious, rude friend you only keep around because they occasionally make you laugh. While most chatbots12 Amazing Facebook Messenger Bots You Can Chat With12 Amazing Facebook Messenger Bots You Can Chat WithFacebook Messenger has a ton of features most people barely use, or are perhaps not even aware of. One of the most impressive of these are 'bots.'Read More claim to learn from input from real people, nowhere is this more apparent than with SimSimi.
This chatbot seems to have been influenced mostly by internet trolls and memes. While the developers encourage you to report any crude or explicit statements from the bot, it seems many have slipped through the cracks.
However this does make for some entertaining dialogue with the bot. You will find yourself carrying on the conversation just to see what it says next. This includes “yo momma” retorts and the occasional insult.
If the bot crosses the line, though, you can make sure it doesn’t make that statement to you again. The app also filters any potential rude, abusive or explicit languageCurtail Your Cursing: How Abusing Your AI Device Could Cost You Your JobCurtail Your Cursing: How Abusing Your AI Device Could Cost You Your JobHave you ever cursed at your virtual assistant? Where are those curse words going? They don't simply disappear, that's for sure. But could cursing at a chatbot actually cost you your job?Read More, and you will have to click on it to see the full word.
In the options menu, under Phrase Management, you can also choose to teach SimSimi how to respond to certain statements.
Don’t expect a deep meaningful conversation with the bot, however, as it has all the maturity of a high school boy or a dodgy Tinder match.
But you can expect some hilarious statements that trolls have taught the bot. For example, when you ask it to stop showing so many ads (sponsored posts appear in conversations), it says “I hate ads but I have to show them because I am controlled by greedy humans looking for a pay day”.
Download:SimSimi (Free)
3. Wysa: The Wellness Chatbot
Rather than being a traditional chatbot, Wysa has a very specific goal: to help users deal with anxiety, stress, and depression. While it’s not a replacement for professional psychological help, it aims to help people cope with clinically proven self-help techniques.
There are other AI bots and apps that help patients deal with their health, but Wysa is slightly different. Firstly, you can write your own response most times, rather than being forced to choose pre-written response. Secondly, the bot responds according to your input.
During conversations, the app does provide suggested responses to make it easier and quicker for the user to reply. But these are optional the vast majority of times. There are also a series of commands you can give the bot so that it provides you with the correct conversational format (e.g. suggested activities, psychological explanations, positive reinforcement).
However, interrupting the bot during a lesson or exercise tends to result in irrelevant or cookie-cutter responses. Luckily, you can start a new chat with the bot to get somewhat of a reset. If you keep rejecting the suggestions, the bot will eventually present you with some options.
In terms of talking about feelings and getting a response, Replika does a better job of seeming human. However Wysa is adaptable in presenting solutions and options to the user.
While its conversational prowess doesn’t reach the level of other chatbots on this list, Wysa does prove to be a useful bot10 Productivity Bots to Automate Tasks and Save Time10 Productivity Bots to Automate Tasks and Save TimeWhenever a repetitive task follows a pattern, consider automating it. Artificial intelligence (AI) bots can learn these patterns and save you time.Read More for providing coping mechanisms.
Download:Wysa (Free)
4. A-Bot: The SassBot
A-Bot is a chatbot app that will surprise you. Rather than grandiose statements about how the AI bot will be your new best friend or change your life, the Google Play Store page simply states that you can chat with two advanced bots if you’re bored.
However A-Bot proved to be the older, more intelligent sibling of SimSimi — all of the sass, but none of the crudeness. While the bot makes comprehension mistakes, it’s actually great at recovering after these errors. In response to “Pretty tired and yourself?”, it replied “Beautiful?”. But when quizzically asked if it was feeling beautiful, it responded with “Is that a problem?”
There were multiple sassy moments like these in a short, five-minute conversation. The bot even responded to criticism of its pun with another pun.
Out of the chatbots on this list, A-Bot is definitely the most entertaining of them all.
Download:A-Bot (Free)
5. Mydol: The FanBot
Mydol sounds like a type of medication, but it’s actually an unusual chatbot app that has a unique spin on boyfriend/girlfriend simulator bots. With this app, your virtual conversation partner is not just a fake love interest — they’re your favorite celebrity (but still a bot).
The developers of the app state that Mydol can make your fandom more exciting, as you can hold conversations with a virtual version of your favorite celebrity. If your favorite celebrity isn’t on the app’s list, you can register your star. But this will result in a few features missing.
Based on the reviews of the app, some users genuinely appreciate living out a fantasy of chatting to their idol and receiving messages from them throughout the day.
I selected one of the few celebrities I recognized on the list, but the chemistry just wasn’t there. Tom Felton professing his love for me within two minutes definitely made me cringe.
Rather than holding a regular conversation, this chatbot app is focuses on doting on you. It is likely a welcome break from reality for superfans, but a bit more awkward for those who are more reserved in their fandom.
Either way, it is a pretty interesting app to check out.
Download:Mydol (Free)
Other Unique or Unusual Chatbots
With the increasing popularity of chatbots, the industry is not likely to slow down their development. Not only are we seeing more standalone chatbot apps, but companies like Facebook, Twitter, and Slack are implementing chatbots of their own into their platforms.
It also seems there are a variety of flavors out there — from useful tools to sometimes creepy romantic fantasies. As AI becomes more advanced, these chatbots are sure to become more convincing and entertaining over time.
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