A chat bot is a program, either web-based or downloaded, which enables a user to communicate through chat. A chat bot is usually a program that is designed to perform a variety of tasks, from initiating conversations to playing audio messages. A chat bot is not actually a computer program – it is instead a program that run on a web server and is capable of receiving and sending messages as well as acting on them. A chat bot is often used as a means of personalization, since it allows a user to use a user name rather than his or her real name. In many cases, such as on MySpace or Facebook, the chat bot is also a tool for marketing.
Chat bots were initially developed using artificial intelligence (AI) technology. This type of artificial intelligence permits computers to quickly and accurately “comparison and contrast” different situations. This is useful for things like language translation. In this way, a chat bot is able to “recognize” the meaning of a word and then adapt its vocabulary, syntax and spelling. This kind of technology can be used for all sorts of things, including speech synthesis, automatic question and answer systems, and automated suggestions.
A variety of chat bots are available for use on the popular messaging services Skype and Yahoo Messenger. However, developers have given rise to several different brands and types of chat bots, most of which run on third party software platforms. Examples of chat bots used on Skype include Microsoft’s Foursquare bot, which have over 500 million contacts and allow users to search for nearby locations, view events and check out photos; Yahoo’s Chatsphere, which allow users to organize group text conversations and share files; and Google Talk, a free service offered by the company. In addition, IM bots are beginning to appear on various chat services for a number of reasons, such as making the IM experience more personal and facilitating quicker connections. IM Bots can also help users to communicate with other people in a chat room that may be located outside of their country.
When it comes to IM Bots, GoogleTalk is perhaps the biggest example of artificial intelligence and because it can handle a wide variety of languages, is often the most widely used IM Bot on the internet. In addition to these examples of chat bots, an IM Bot can be developed using the services of a third party company who specializes in building chat bots. Chat bots can be written in any programming language, and in fact, there are many open source examples of chat bot development available online for anyone to download and use.
However, despite the wide availability of chat bot examples, developers should not expect to produce a chat bot that will work perfectly without any user input. Even if a chat bot contains the perfect combination of characteristics, it will still not be effective unless users provide a significant amount of input. The way in which users chat with the bot will greatly influence whether or not the bot is successful. For example, when chatting with a chat bot, one should try to be as specific as possible. Say, instead of saying “I love you,” you can actually say, “How was your day?” This will make a much more convincing statement to the bot than just saying, “I” or “you” (without the quotation marks).
As well, it is always important to stay away from generalization when chatting with a chat bot. While it may be very easy to generalize every conversation, it is generally best to stick to specific topics and discuss only those subjects that pertain to your expertise. For example, it would not be appropriate to ask a bot, “What do you like about working in Comedy Club?” rather, you would want to talk about what kind of comedy club your favorite comedy club is at and what it’s like to work there. While chat Bots can answer basic questions, generalization is dangerous because people interested in chatting Bots will get the feeling that the bot can easily answer any question they might throw at it.
While all this is an exciting new development, chat bots are still nothing more than machines. The big opportunity here is in the field of artificial intelligence. Artificial intelligence basically refers to the ability of machines to mimic human behavior in a wide variety of environments. This means that the future of chat Bots will be based heavily on artificial intelligence. By creating better ways for machines to interact with humans, we open up many new doors that will help computers function in ways we never thought were possible.
To date, chat Bots have largely remained confined to test purposes. It is unknown if they will ever go “mainstream.” Currently, the major appeal of chat Bots is their ability to act and speak like normal people would. Even though they are primarily a test platform for artificial intelligence, Google has clearly recognized the potential to build useful applications in this field. In the future, chat Bot Apps will allow us to do things like send e-mails, IM’s, comment on other people’s posts and much more.