I've been making bots for my personal use only - the great thing is that it exposes a command line interface that is universally accessible and visible across all my devices, and allows for push notifications. Perhaps we'll see a new age of more people learning to use terminal commands.

I'm old enough to remember the big push to replace IVR systems with web interfaces. With the business case being that customers had a huge preference for the web, since the interface was faster and more explicit.

So, for me, it's quite funny that I'm now going to be exposed to a bunch of new projects that essentially undo all of that. With no real net new functionality...these chatbots don't seem any more advanced than good IVR systems from the 90's.

The IVR systems were mostly tree-structured while the bots attempt to be more freeform.

Note my use of the phrase "attempt to be". Occasionally they are!

Is it really that comparable? What were good IVR systems like to use?

I think it was. Here's an old article that covers the "what's old is new again angle": https://books.google.com/books?id=WG785CwKw4cC&pg=PA76&lpg=P...

I can't seem to understand the buzz around chatbots. I read an earlier article on here about chatbots replacing apps in China, but something about it seems so gimmicky. Why should I spend the cognitive energy to attempt a scripted conversation with a machine, when I can just talk to an actual person or use a native app?

"A majority of bots might not even be intelligent, they're just convenient" - sums it up.

Yes, but if/once the market buys into using today's limited bots for mere convenience, that usage will feed the next generation of more intelligent bots, and so on. It's inevitable.

That's a giant leap to be making.

Not really, because usage data is what feeds better machine learning models. It's a positive feedback loop.

A bot telling me 'That she is sorry to hear that I'm not feeling well and I might need to take some time off to recover' feels pretty weird to me. I would prefer a more factual dialog.

That's what your boss is for.

I can't fathom of how a chat-bot could be more convnient than a well designed UI.

Feeling sick? Click here, select these options, etc. etc..

Having the ambiguity of AI in between, with the ridiculous bits about 'hope you are feeling better' is rubbish.

Furthermore, if someone isn't feeling well they should just not show up and manage it on their own. In my last job I took a good 5 sick days a year and never said a thing to anyone. I just moved a couple of meetings and that was that.

Generally, they're not replacing UIs, they're replacing call centers. The idea is to put an NLP and task layer between the user and a call center agent, with the hope that you can automate commonly-recurring tasks and save opex. (I call them "opportunistic interfaces" -- situations where users are unable or unlikely to use a formal web or app UI, so you've got to stick with something that works over a phone or SMS.)

In this case, they're probably talking about the blue-collar labor force for sick-day management, so you need a lowest-common-denominator interface; you can't assume they have smartphones or even Internet service, so good old fashioned voice or SMS is your best choice.