Microsoft going all-in on chatbots

Microsoft is putting so much effort into chatbots (Skype, Cortana, LUIS, etc) that I understand the statement of their CEO, Satya Nadella: “So pretty much everyone today who is building applications whether they be mobile apps or desktop apps or websites will build bots as the new interface, where you have a human dialogue interface versus menus of the past”. They’re going all-in.

Poncho on Facebook Messenger: Three Months In

I appreciate when bot authors put the time to release some stats, which are pretty scarce at the time. This post focuses primarily on new features, but here’s an interesting data-point about the reaction to a message they sent to a set of users out of the blue: “We had 30% of people respond to the conversation within a 15 minutes window. 95% of them finished the conversation flow and wanted to continue to get more in the future. Only 1 person blocked Poncho”.

Facebook tests new ways to show money sending capabilities on Messenger (not for bots yet)

Sending and receiving money in conversations will be a reality soon. It may seem Facebook wants to directly compete against Venmo and Paypal, but their goal is for business to get paid by consumers on Messenger and Facebook. Potentially fee-less, while business may pay for being featured. It’s clear that this capability is coming to bots. Not yet, though!

Some bots from big brands were revealed at MobileBeat event

A few companies released bots during the MobileBeat event in SF: Whole Foods, Booking.com, Pizza Hut and Kasisto. Interesting times.