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White House encourages local governments to embrace chatbots
The Obama Administration receives thousands of emails, phone calls and letters every day. And, since August, American citizens have been able to contact the president through Facebook as well, thanks the the White House's Messenger bot. Now, the administration is going a step forward and releasing the bot's source code onto the internet for anyone to use.
Learn a new language with Duolingo's chatbots
Duolingo has been offering language learning tools for a while now, but today the company debuted a new tool inside its iPhone app that could make the task a bit easier. Thanks to AI-powered chatbots, the language-learning app offers a way to have conversations while you're trying to learn French, German and Spanish. That's a short list of languages for now, but Duolingo says more options are on the way.
Chat app Telegram is now a gaming platform too
If a company has a messaging app, there's a good chance that chat bots are headed its way. Case in point, today secure-chat service Telegram announced a bot-powered gaming platform. While the app has had text-based games for a while, today's announcement means those distractions will now have HTML 5 graphics and sound.
Facebook Messenger chief admits bot launch was 'overhyped'
Chatbots were oversold and not that great when they first launched earlier this year, Facebook Messenger VP David A. Marcus told Techrunch's Disrupt conference. "The problem was that it got really overhyped very, very quickly," he said. "And the basic qualities we provided at that time weren't good enough to replace traditional apps."
The robots of war: AI and the future of combat
The 1983 film WarGames portrayed a young hacker tapping into NORAD's artificial-intelligence-driven nuclear weapons' system. When the hit movie was screened for President Reagan, it prompted the commander in chief to ask if it were possible for the country's defense system network to be compromised. Turns out it could. What they didn't talk about was the science fiction of using AI to control the nation's nuclear arsenal. It was too far-fetched to even be considered. Until now.
Facebook opens up Messenger to ad bots
Right now, Facebook lets Messenger bots from brands like Expedia and HP help you make a purchase, but they can't try to sell you a new product. However, a policy change means those automated assistants will soon be able to send subscription messages, ads and promotions for services like makeup consultations. If you're worried about spam, Facebook emphasized that the user is in control. "All conversations between businesses and people must be initiated by the person receiving the messages, who can then mute or block the business at any time," wrote Product Manager Seth Rosenberg.
'Hamilton' creator Miranda joins the fight against ticket bots
Hate that ticket bots robbed you of a chance to see that big concert or musical? So does Lin-Manuel Miranda. The Hamilton author is teaming up with Senator Charles Schumer to promote a proposed federal bill, the Better Online Ticket Sales Act (BOTS Act, geddit?), that would fine bot users $16,000 for every ticket they sell. That's far harsher than in Schumer's own New York state, where a recently passed law tops out at a $1,000 total fine and no more than a year in prison. Miranda is coming aboard as proof that these bots can do real damage -- scalpers made roughly $15.5 million from Hamilton alone, and jacked prices from $189 to as much as $2,000. It'd also start a task force that would detect these bootleggers.
Riot Games is suing a huge 'League of Legends' cheat service
Cheating ruins online games. Full stop. Valve has cracked down on folks running amok in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and League of Legends developer Riot Games is doing the same. Specifically, Riot is suing the owners of "Leaguesharp" (L#) which charges between $15 and $50 a month for services that grant the ability to "see hidden information; 'automate' gameplay to perform with enhanced or inhuman accuracy; and accumulate levels, experience and items at a rate this is not possible for a normal human player," according to the lawsuit papers obtained by Rift Herald.
This contest proved how far behind the times chatbots really are
The chatbots you're hitting up on Facebook or Kik may seem as though they can really understand you, but in all actuality they're pretty stupid, at least when it comes to common sense. That's why a new Turing Test in the form of the Winograd Schema Challenge seeks to prove how lacking the bots really are in the grand scheme of things.
Pizza Hut and Whole Foods debut social media chatbots
If you can't be bothered chatting with Facebook's news and weather bots, maybe a pizza bot can change your mind. Pizza Hut is launching a Facebook and a Twitter chatbot this fall that can take your order and show you current deals. The Facebook bot even comes with something extra: it can connect your FB with your Pizza Hut account, so it can list your past orders. You know, in case somebody asks you to prove that you've never had Hawaiian before. But what if you eat healthy and don't like pizza? Well then, you'll probably enjoy chatting with Whole Foods' Facebook bot instead.
American Express teams up with Facebook to offer Amex Bot
If you're an avid Facebook user and American Express customer, you might want to pay attention. American Express has announced Amex Bot, the product of a collaboration with Facebook to offer its card members special ways to keep up with their finances and purchases.
New York criminalizes the use of ticket-buying bots
If you failed to get tickets for your favorite band, even though your finger was poised on the "buy" link the instant they went on sale, don't worry -- you never stood a chance. They were probably snapped up by bots that, in one case, bought 1,012 Madison Square Garden U2 tickets in less than a minute. The state of New York has declared that scalpers who use them could get fines and even jail time. "New Yorkers have been dealing with this frustrating ticket buying experience for too long," says state assembly member Marcos Crespie.
Foursquare's new bot texts food suggestions before you're hungry
Foursquare is more than a friendly food finder and gentrification-tracking app -- the company is now in the bot business with its latest tool, Marsbot. The bot analyzes users' locations and past preferences to make proactive recommendations via text on where to eat or grab a drink next. Marsbot isn't a chatbot, meaning users won't ask it for suggestions; instead (and ideally), Marsbot will predict when you're ready to try something new and nudge you toward places you should enjoy.
Dear Veronica: The bots are taking over!
#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-306001{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-306001, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-306001{width:570px;display:block;} try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-306001").style.display="none";}catch(e){} It seems like everyone is talking about bots these days: from major announcements by Facebook, to the quick demise of Tay from Microsoft, to a myriad tiny chatbots flooding your Twitter timeline. But what are they actually good for? Great question! To help figure that out, I'm welcoming back onto the show Ryan Block, co-founder of Begin (and former editor of this very website!). And OK, you can talk to Belbot here. Godspeed.
Skype's chat bots come to Macs and the web
You no longer have to be quite so picky about where you chat with Skype's chat bots. The Skype team has made preview bots available on both the native Mac app and the web, giving you a way to ask AI for assistance on your platform of choice. The experience won't be much different than what you've seen in Windows, but there are two new preview bots to try: Murphy (which finds and creates images to answer questions) and Summarize (which recaps a web page). Give this a shot if you've been waiting for first-hand experience with Microsoft's software helpers.
Facebook is poised to take the chatbot world by storm
Even though chatbots have been around for quite some time -- remember the SmarterChild bot on AIM? -- they've only recently become the darlings of the tech world. Just two weeks ago, Microsoft announced its Conversations as a Platform initiative, wherein it plans to build bots into Skype to help you do things like book hotels or order a pizza from Domino's. This week, Facebook unveiled its own bot platform for Messenger, which aims to do the same things. At first glance, the two seem similar, but there is one big difference. While the demos we saw at Build are still being built, many of the ones shown at F8 are already live.
Here are all the Facebook Messenger bots we know about so far
While Facebook just announced its bots for Messenger platform today, it already has a few dozen developers lined up to take the plunge. If you downloaded the latest Messenger update today, then you're ready to get started with the CNN bot, a weather bot called Poncho, a Wall Street Journal bot, a bot for 1-800-Flowers and a few more. Here we've compiled a starter list of bots that are already available, plus ones that are slated to arrive in the next few months. You can also peruse the Messenger bot store on Botlist for more. (Props to Martin Hoffman for this public Google Doc of Known Bots).
Facebook's Messenger bots are a compelling alternative to apps
After several months of speculation, Facebook finally announced today that it would be officially integrating chatbots into Messenger. It's already started doing so with a few partners like Uber, Lyft and KLM, but today's announcement means that a lot more businesses are joining the party. And it's not just for customer support or tracking online orders -- though it can certainly be used for that too. These chatbots offer services that range from delivering top news stories to the local weather. In fact, two of its launch partners are a CNN and Poncho, a weather bot that masquerades as a friendly cat.
Microsoft's mobile OS isn't Windows -- it's Cortana
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella didn't mention Windows Mobile once during the opening-day Build developer conference keynote yesterday, nor did any of the other executives who took the stage. But that doesn't mean the company lacks a mobile strategy: The presentation offered a bold look at how Microsoft thinks we'll soon be using our phones. Instead of digging through apps, we'll just use natural language to tell our phones what we need to do -- or, they'll be smart enough to know what we want, when we want it.
Microsoft is betting big on AI chatbots like Tay
Tay, the AI-powered chatbot that ended up spewing hate speech on Twitter, is just the beginning for Microsoft. At its Build developer conference later today, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella will unveil a broader "conversation as a platform" strategy, which involves releasing many chatbots built for different purposes, Businessweek reports. You'll be able to message them just like Tay, but we'll also get a glimpse of bots built into Skype that can do things like book hotel rooms. Just like its aim for Windows 10 apps last year, Microsoft is hoping to get developers excited by the idea of building bots at Build.
