There’s a lot of hype about “chatbots” lately in Silicon Valley. These are little artificial-intelligence programs that work like personalized assistants.* Microsoft talks about a bot that is a personal digital assistant that knows you, knows about your world and helps you with everyday tasks like ordering pizza using text, Skype or Slack. However, the digital beings (e.g., Alexa, Operator, Assist, x.ai, Siri, Magic, Fin, Messenger) that claim to make our lives easier, organize us and even make us feel emotionally better off are not the Nirvana we expect. Many times, chatbots cannot accomplish a task without the help of a human being in the “back office” somewhere around the world (be more inquisitive about this the next time you use a bot!). The bots may misinterpret what you want done because of your accent, tone or the way you phrased your question or need.
And in the business world, they won’t help you with handling a critical client or an irritated caller. It is very challenging to replace human interaction in day-to-day business dealings and settings. Assistance is not just about ordering things or playing the music you want. It is about paying attention to tone of voice and acting in consequence; it is about anticipating what your needs will be; making your clients feel taken care of; it is an exchange of information on a daily basis; it is about the nuances in a conversation to better interpret what you and your clients need.
The underlying reason chatbots exist is for companies like Facebook, Apple and Microsoft to keep you as a client/subscriber for their core services. So ask yourself whether the AI services you are using are putting you in the path of “wallet domination.”
*Please refer to “What Chatbots Reveal About Our Own Shortcomings”, by Jenna Wortham, The New York Times Magazine, April 21, 2016.
