AI chatbots

[Becky]

I saw in the news today that Facebook are launching chatbots for businesses in Messenger. They already have some businesses on board who will start using the chatbots for things like customer service and taking bookings/orders.

I can't make up my mind what I think about this! On the one hand, I suppose it makes sense to automate certain functions where a person is clearly not needed. But when it comes to customer service, can an AI chatbot have the same amount of tact and common sense as a person? On the other hand, I suppose when you consider how bad the some customer service of some businesses is then I guess maybe the answer is yes!

http://techcrunch.com/2016/04/12/agents-on-messenger/

 

[V_R]

Not sure whats worse, Indian call centre or talking to a robot.

Actually, there may not be that much of a difference....

 

[Becky]

Yeah, true. I really hate foreign call centres. According to their research, people preferred the chat bot over speaking to someone at a call centre, so maybe it will prove popular. Time will tell I guess! I'd be interested to see what it's like.

 

[muckshifter]

Humans are so yesterday, we need more dumb bots to help us with our daily tasks. Hey, and they don't need paying.

BT paved the way from India.