We came across this story on the Cloudmark blog where Andrew Conway described his first clash with a chatterbot. At the end, he exposed the chatterbot by asking a simple maths question which he received no real answer for. The link most probably led to an external chargeable website with sexual content.
In simple words, chatterbots are programs or algorithms that are able to communicate with us. Partly, they do so in written form in instant messengers or via SMS. Some are also a bit more sophisticated and communicate even verbally (e.g. iPhone's Siri). The art and challenge of developing chatterbots lies in making their communication as human and realistic as possible. Some of these programs are quite good, and users can hardly detect if they are chatting with a real person or an algorithm. Indeed chatterbots nowadays are pretty close to human beings. In June 2014, Eugene Goostman was the first chatterbot passing the Turing test, a test designed to examine an algorithm's ability to act in way similar or very close to human behavior (2).
The example we described at the beginning is a popular way to use chatterbots as romance or flirt bots. There are various apps in this segment using artificial intelligence to talk and flirt with human beings. Take the app Boyfriend Maker as an example. There you can create your virtual boyfriend, dress him and chat with his algorithm (the link to the app store for the lonely hearts who haven't found their soulmate via one of the dating services). Another interesting website is Pandorabots.com where you can even create and train your own chatterbot or chat with Mitsuku, the chatterbot of this website as we did.
But there are many other, more commercial ways to use chatterbots. Many companies deploy algorithms for example in there customer service hotlines. Often the chatterbot only helps to categorize the caller's concern and then forwards the call to the respective call agent. In some cases nevertheless, the algorithm takes the whole conversation - both in writing or verbally.
Chatterbots are an excellent example to illustrate the progress of algorithms in terms of the adaption of human behavior. It is obvious that it bears a lot of risks if we are not even able to distinguish between a program and a human being communicating with us. However, it can also bring some opportunities and advantages. Nowadays, chatterbots are often only communication toys for lonely or bored individuals. Nevertheless, the hotline example shows a commercial usage which in the future surely could be expanded. Indeed, we are then facing the machines-steal-jobs-from-humans-discussion. But that is technological progress in a changing working environment! We should rather concentrate on the opportunities offered by these developments instead of being scared of them. Perhaps, chatterbots could make life in many areas much easier. We just have to identify these potentials and make use of them!
Good one!!!
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