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Get your next movie recommendation from a Facebook bot
Facebook is still working on rolling out its bot platform, with the apps that will eventually comprise it still in its early stages. But there's one that you can try out right now, complete with a ridiculous name based on one of the memes du jour out there on the internet. It's called And Chill, and it's a movie recommendation engine.
Google and Ray Kurzweil are making chatbots together
While we don't often hear Ray Kurzweil's name associated with Google products, Mountain View hired him back in 2012 to work on unspecified machine learning and language processing projects. Now, the famous futurist has finally revealed one of the projects his team has been working on: chatbots that can talk like humans do. He lifted the veil on the big G's chatbot initiative at the latest Singularity conference -- an annual conference on science, tech and the future.
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.
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.
Taco Bell wants you to order food from a chat bot
We've seen some clever ways to order food online in our day, but this one is decidedly off the wall. Taco Bell is testing TacoBot, a chat AI that helps you order (what else?) tacos in a Slack conversation. Think of it as a tasty text adventure -- you can ask questions about the menu, customize your order and check your cart. It's only in a private beta with a few companies at the moment, but you can sign up for a waiting list to have your Slack team give TacoBot a try. Just think -- you could have tacos sent your way while you're stuck in a planning session.
RBS will employ an AI chat bot to handle online banking queries
In response to recent moves by rivals to incorporate more technology in their customer operations, RBS has announced it's to deploy a new online virtual assistant to help deal with enquiries quicker. The bank says the AI, named "Luvo," was first tested among its 1,200 staff but will soon be used to help address common customer issues like lost debit and credit cards, locked PINs and how to order in a new card reader.
The curious sext lives of chatbots
ELIZA is old enough to be my mother, but that didn't stop me from trying to have sex with her. NSFW Warning: This story may contain links to and descriptions or images of explicit sexual acts.
Google's chatbot learned it all from movies
Chatbots are pretty common these days -- a simple search can surface numerous variants you can talk to on a lonely Friday night. The one Google is developing, however, isn't your run-of-the-mill chatbot: it wasn't programmed to respond to questions a specific way. Instead, it uses neural networks (a collection of machines that mimic the neurons in the human brain) to learn from existing conversations and conjure up its own answers. Mountain View, along with Facebook and Microsoft, already uses neural networks for other purposes, such as to create works of art, to identify objects in images and to recognize spoken words.
