Put aside the hype, and there's a lot to get excited about for the future of chatbots. It's about decreased effort and real intelligence. Keynote address at CHat Shanghai Conference, September 2016.
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Global Messaging Trends Chatbots
1. Grata.co September 2016Chat Shanghai | Global Messaging Trends
Global
Messaging
Trends
In search of
intelligence
Andrew Schorr
Founder @ Grata.co
Image Credit: Kathleen Wilson/Baltimore Academy of Illustration
7. Grata.co September 2016Chat Shanghai | Global Messaging Trends
Since then, I’ve
been drawn back
to a chatbot once.
A chatbot promoted by
Facebook, representing
the White House, failing
both on and off script,
phishing for contact
information from within a
messaging app. Ugh.
8. Grata.co September 2016Chat Shanghai | Global Messaging Trends
But there must be something there,
with 11,000 bots at last count.
Source: h)ps://medium.com/@Deepoma>c/visual-‐chatbots-‐to-‐revolu>onize-‐interac>ons-‐1f8693e27639#.mb0yjyn9d
9. Grata.co September 2016Chat Shanghai | Global Messaging Trends
Venture Capital Funds
Retrieved from h)ps://www.cbinsights.com/blog/bot-‐startups-‐>meline/
Facebook F8 April 2016
10. Grata.co September 2016Chat Shanghai | Global Messaging Trends
$150M
$80M
Platform Funds
$50M
$100M
Source: h)p://venturebeat.com/2016/08/30/amazon-‐ibm-‐and-‐other-‐tech-‐giants-‐want-‐to-‐pay-‐you-‐to-‐create-‐bots/
11. Grata.co September 2016Chat Shanghai | Global Messaging Trends
I did a quick survey of
travel chatbots to see
how things are going.
It’s still easier to find a
bad example than a
good one.
Travel should be easy
since it is a limited
domain: booking a flight
or a hotel.
Image Credit: Sara Klementovic saraklem.com
12. Grata.co September 2016Chat Shanghai | Global Messaging Trends
Cheapflights stays on message
with a cheap bot.
No kidding, you actually have to type out the words “check in” and “check out”
15. Grata.co September 2016Chat Shanghai | Global Messaging Trends
But none of these are as easy as
AnyTravelWebsite.com
Pictured: skyscanner.com
16. Grata.co September 2016Chat Shanghai | Global Messaging Trends
h)p://investorplace.com/2016/07/pizza-‐hut-‐emoji-‐menu-‐yum-‐stock/#.V7XWe5P5iRt
I love this sub-headline.
17. Grata.co September 2016Chat Shanghai | Global Messaging Trends
So when is a chatbot useful?
Image Credit: Benjamin Jancewicz, zerflin.com/services/illustration
18. Grata.co September 2016Chat Shanghai | Global Messaging Trends
An Extensible Script
Chatbots that can
react appropriately
to multiple correct
answers are perfect
for language
learning.
Pictured
h)ps://blog.mondlylanguages.com/2016/08/25/mondly-‐chatbot-‐press-‐release/
19. Grata.co September 2016Chat Shanghai | Global Messaging Trends
Context Switching
Chatbots that can
interpret inputs in a
series can consolidate
complex tasks.
The Robot Lawyer has
helped void over 160,000
parking tickets worth over
$4,000,000. Now it’s
helping the homeless.
More
at
h)ps://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/aug/11/chatbot-‐lawyer-‐beat-‐parking-‐fines-‐helping-‐homeless-‐do-‐not-‐pay
20. Grata.co September 2016Chat Shanghai | Global Messaging Trends
Non-Textual Inputs
Whole Foods is on
to something, but
it’s still more
difficult to find the
eggplant emoji
than to type
“eggplant”.
Note: Be careful whom you text the eggplant emoji.
21. Grata.co September 2016Chat Shanghai | Global Messaging Trends
Image Credit: Alex Kazanas alexkazanas.com
What if I could
just point my
camera at any
item in the
supermarket?
22. Grata.co September 2016Chat Shanghai | Global Messaging Trends
Value
Effort
The golden equation
for chatbot utility.
More
at
h)ps://medium.com/art-‐marke>ng/the-‐hidden-‐homescreen-‐70c794ff9ada#.91l3z7wzl
24. Grata.co September 2016Chat Shanghai | Global Messaging Trends
Voice Chatbots
1
Voice message
to a WeChat
Official Account
2 Tap your itinerary from instant response
3
Select ticket
type and book
25. Grata.co September 2016Chat Shanghai | Global Messaging Trends
An always-on microphone in every
room of your house.
+
More
at
h)p://venturebeat.com/2016/08/30/sonos-‐is-‐puZng-‐amazons-‐alexa-‐voice-‐assistant-‐tech-‐inside-‐its-‐connected-‐speakers/
26. Grata.co September 2016Chat Shanghai | Global Messaging Trends
In summary, get excited about
Language
Voice
Vision
Intelligence
None of these are easy, so…
32. Grata.co September 2016Chat Shanghai | Global Messaging Trends
Google makes
inroads on iOS
with the Gboard
in May 2016.
Microsoft
acquired Swiftkey
in February.
More
at
h)p://www.cnet.com/news/google-‐gives-‐iphones-‐and-‐ipads-‐slick-‐gboard-‐keyboard/
33. Grata.co September 2016Chat Shanghai | Global Messaging Trends
M
Assistant
Cortana
Siri
Virtual Assistants are all about
reducing inputs and effort.
34. Grata.co September 2016Chat Shanghai | Global Messaging Trends
Apple’s Siri is
opening up to
integrations
with launch of
Sirikit.
More
at
h)p://arstechnica.com/apple/2016/06/the-‐abili>es-‐and-‐limita>ons-‐of-‐sirikit-‐siris-‐olive-‐branch-‐to-‐other-‐apps/
35. Grata.co September 2016Chat Shanghai | Global Messaging Trends
OS
Search
AI
ML
NLP
The backend stack could be
the deciding factor
Google Research
NLP API
Cognitive Services
Bot Framework
36. Grata.co September 2016Chat Shanghai | Global Messaging Trends
“Apple is the NSA of AI.”
-Jerry Kaplan
Teaches the history of artificial
intelligence at Stanford
Despite missing search, Apple
has a powerful stack: controlling
the hardware, the operating
system, and having defined the
virtual assistant with Siri.
Thanks
to
www.crunchbase.com
for
informa>on
on
acquisi>ons
More
at
h)ps://backchannel.com/an-‐exclusive-‐look-‐at-‐how-‐ai-‐and-‐machine-‐learning-‐work-‐at-‐apple-‐8dbc131932b#.aozc4dn52
Machine Learning
Acquired
5 Aug 2016
Speech Interface
Acquired
2 Oct 2015
Image Processing
Acquired
5 Oct 2015
37. Grata.co September 2016Chat Shanghai | Global Messaging Trends
“We think of this as each user
building their own Google.”
-Sundar Pichai
CEO, Google
at Google I/O May 2016
The shift to AI is perfectly
aligned with Google Research’s
activities and Google’s mission
to organize the world’s
information.
Image Recognition
Acquired
23 Oct 2014
Gesture
Recognition
Acquired
2 Oct 2013
Image Recognition
Acquired
6 July 2016
NLP
Acquired
23 Oct 2014
Machine Learning
Acquired
26 Jan 2014
Visual Translator
Acquired
16 May 2014
38. Grata.co September 2016Chat Shanghai | Global Messaging Trends
Keyboard AI
Acquired
2 Feb 2016
Don’t count Microsoft out.
The last peer-to-peer connections on
Skype are being removed to enable
connecting Azure Cognitive Services
to chats.
Virtual Assistant
Acquired
22 Aug 2016
3D Input
Processor
29 Oct 2010
More
at
h)p://www.theverge.com/2016/7/7/12111028/microsod-‐bot-‐framework-‐ar>ficial-‐intelligence-‐satya-‐nadella-‐interview
"This idea of using conversation, using contextual information
about you, with your permission, to make you speedier and make
you feel like you’re in control, that’s the stuff we get really excited
about. A lot of our user experience work is around simplification,
removing friction, and really showing the power of intelligence.".
39. Grata.co September 2016Chat Shanghai | Global Messaging Trends
Microsoft might
have had some very
public stumbles...
40. Grata.co September 2016Chat Shanghai | Global Messaging Trends
…but the Microsoft Bot Framework is overcoming
channel weakness with a cross-platform solution.
41. Grata.co September 2016Chat Shanghai | Global Messaging Trends
…and Project Murphy is hands down the most fun
you can have right now with a chat bot.
This is
pretty
impressive
NLP on
display
42. Grata.co September 2016Chat Shanghai | Global Messaging Trends
Proving that chatbots can be sexy,
even though it’s still early days.
44. Grata.co September 2016Chat Shanghai | Global Messaging Trends
Grata is the leading provider of enterprise
contact center software for WeChat.
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