Woah, guys. There is no wizard, just a man behind the curtain. This article feels to an extent like it was a long-time coming. An article that looks at who *they* think are the real heroes behind Watson--their marketing and PR teams. We at Reply have come up against this in the past too, that Watson’s brand recognition can be difficult to argue against as a startup, but it’s generally a short-lived challenge for us, until the client scratches. With quotes like “IBM Watson is the Donald Trump of the AI industry—outlandish claims that aren’t backed by credible data.” Big Blue has really got a lot of work to do to crawl out of this hole...
In an seemingly inevitable move, Intercom has released its own Bot product...and people have a lot to say on the subject. Looking for a pulse on the bot community? Just read through the comments here--in particular by the “Bot Father” himself, Chris Messina.
Another great, extremely well thought-out article about the importance of design in the bot-making process. We’re big believers that when it comes to bot creation, the tech isn’t really the hard part--the human part is, the design. This article, written by Elaine Lee, AI Designer at eBay, gives great guidelines for being successful in this endeavor. Is it us or are Liberal Arts majors everywhere thrilled to finally have a career path--Conversation Designer!
This is a bot that helps you be less awkward. You can text it for conversation starters, jokes, or “Tips” like where to find “‘sweet spots’ at events where people are ready to mingle.” if you’re really in a socially awkward death spiral, you can ask for “social dares to spice things up” like “Draw a doodle on your napkin and leave it for your server or the person who sits down after you.” Crazy! Here’s the thing, we’ve got a lot of mixed feelings. On the one hand we could see how this can help with social anxiety and reminds us of our own Literally Anything Else Bot, but does it make us cringe, too? Yes. What do you guys think?