With the increasing interest in chatbots, advancements in more complicated algorithms, improvements in associated technology and especially the use of the latter for messenger apps, a new look at apps and chatbots is needed. In the previous articles we have taken a look at the uses of chatbots, their core components and important algorithms. We’ve learned that they can be(come) excellent at communicating back and forth, but could they also function as an interface? An interface that could make interacting with other apps obsolete?
The WeChat example
WeChat is a cross-platform communication service that offers a chatbot service that is integrated with many other apps. Below example shows a customer service chatbot for KLM with WeChat and Facebook:
With the modern information age, our time to process information has stayed the same while the amount of information has increased exponentially. Various studies indicate how much time we spend on handling our email: according to McKinsey we spend as much as 13 hours per week just reading emails. At the same time, we spend more and more time on our mobile phones; to read email, use social media or messaging apps. We are using several applications at the same time, while they all have the same ultimate objective: communication. The question is, can it be done simpler ?
In the Asian market, in particular in China, WeChat fills that niche by offering one service that combines everything. In fact, WeChat offers its users an easy way to integrate various services (e.g. order cabs, pay bills, buy film tickets and get your laundry picked up) and other mobile devices into one single digital identity. This results in the fact that Chinese communicate almost exclusively through WeChat in a private and business environment, leaving e-mail communication far behind. Combine this identity with a personalized chatbot and easy access to all services you have a chat(bot) service that replaces the traditional interfaces with any other apps.
But what about Facebook, Siri or Cortana?
In the previous article I talked about how the Facebook messenger could function as an interface to communicate with other apps. Other examples that provide an interesting basis for chatbot developments and service integration, are the personal assistants Siri, Google Now and Cortana. Currently these chatbots have limited functionality and can only open apps and fulfill simple requests like informing about the current weather or the public transport route to any particular city. But most of human interaction with any application on our devices is done through manual interaction, not conversation. The chatbots however offer a conversational user experience, including the ability to learn about a user’s personal taste and preferences through machine learning. The main point is that chatbots could fill the automation holes in our menial daily tasks. WeChat has already done that largely for the Chinese market, but “Western” alternatives still lag behind (see below picture by the Economist). A key aspect here is that Western consumers first have to be persuaded to link their financial data with chat services in order to be able to implement other services like e.g. ordering goods online.
Will chatbots change our lives?
The 3 main reasons why I think that the chatbots will change our lives like the internet and the smartphone did:
- Plain and simple conversational communication that is indistinguishable from human conversation: after all we are social animals and we like to talk;
- Chatbots can deliver a unified interface. Sure, we still need the individual apps but the chatbot would provide one clean conversational interface. It lies in the integration for seamless access to the users wishes and information. In short, it relieves some of the information overload through a single simple interface;
- With the chatbot becoming the unified interface, learning the functionality of any individual app is unnecessary. A good chatbot or chat service will take care of this in the chat service itself, which WeChat does. This is instead of the normal download, install and figuring it all out yourself. The chatbot can provide immediate personal assistance. For example the next picture shows a WeChat Chinese airline bot example. You can ask for certain flights on dates and it provides time, price, flight number and some additional information.
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