
Chatbots Are the Newest, Dumbest Co-Workers - ilyaeck
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-05-05/chatbots-are-your-newest-dumbest-co-workers
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ipsum2
I've been making bots for my personal use only - the great thing is that it
exposes a command line interface that is universally accessible and visible
across all my devices, and allows for push notifications. Perhaps we'll see a
new age of more people learning to use terminal commands.

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tyingq
I'm old enough to remember the big push to replace IVR systems with web
interfaces. With the business case being that customers had a huge preference
for the web, since the interface was faster and more explicit.

So, for me, it's quite funny that I'm now going to be exposed to a bunch of
new projects that essentially undo all of that. With no real net new
functionality...these chatbots don't seem any more advanced than good IVR
systems from the 90's.

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ludamad
Is it really that comparable? What were good IVR systems like to use?

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tyingq
I think it was. Here's an old article that covers the "what's old is new again
angle":
[https://books.google.com/books?id=WG785CwKw4cC&pg=PA76&lpg=P...](https://books.google.com/books?id=WG785CwKw4cC&pg=PA76&lpg=PA76#v=onepage&q&f=false)

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DDickson
I can't seem to understand the buzz around chatbots. I read an earlier article
on here about chatbots replacing apps in China, but something about it seems
so gimmicky. Why should I spend the cognitive energy to attempt a scripted
conversation with a machine, when I can just talk to an actual person or use a
native app?

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chlestakoff
"A majority of bots might not even be intelligent, they're just convenient" \-
sums it up.

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ilyaeck
Yes, but if/once the market buys into using today's limited bots for mere
convenience, that usage will feed the next generation of more intelligent
bots, and so on. It's inevitable.

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treehau5
That's a giant leap to be making.

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chlestakoff
Not really, because usage data is what feeds better machine learning models.
It's a positive feedback loop.

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defenestration
A bot telling me 'That she is sorry to hear that I'm not feeling well and I
might need to take some time off to recover' feels pretty weird to me. I would
prefer a more factual dialog.

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jvehent
That's what your boss is for.

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jomamaxx
I can't fathom of how a chat-bot could be more convnient than a well designed
UI.

Feeling sick? Click here, select these options, etc. etc..

Having the ambiguity of AI in between, with the ridiculous bits about 'hope
you are feeling better' is rubbish.

Furthermore, if someone isn't feeling well they should just not show up and
manage it on their own. In my last job I took a good 5 sick days a year and
never said a thing to anyone. I just moved a couple of meetings and that was
that.

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HillRat
Generally, they're not replacing UIs, they're replacing call centers. The idea
is to put an NLP and task layer between the user and a call center agent, with
the hope that you can automate commonly-recurring tasks and save opex. (I call
them "opportunistic interfaces" \-- situations where users are unable or
unlikely to use a formal web or app UI, so you've got to stick with something
that works over a phone or SMS.)

In this case, they're probably talking about the blue-collar labor force for
sick-day management, so you need a lowest-common-denominator interface; you
can't assume they have smartphones or even Internet service, so good old
fashioned voice or SMS is your best choice.

