Chatbots: The Very First & The Latest

In 1964 Joseph Weizenbaum started the development of Eliza, a computer program that was able to have a normal conversation with a person. Eliza processed natural language as an input and, as an output, it offered answers as it were a natural conversation between two people. By 1967, using Carl Rogers principles of the psychology of empathy, Weizenbaum had managed to develop a computer program that could converse with a human being in a coherent way. One could argue, this was the world’s very first Chatbot.

In 1976, Weizenbaum published Computer Power and Human Reason: From Judgement to Calculation, a book in which he recounted his experience with Eliza.

One of the stories he tells is how he was surprised when on several occasions when coming to the office he would find his secretary immersed in conversation with Eliza, telling it details of her personal life because she genuinely believed the computer could understand her.

Whether Eliza passed the Turing Test is arguable, however, what can’t be denied is that the Chatbot had succeeded in achieving one thing: carrying out a conversation so well that its user considers it a companion.

Today we use different kinds of Artificial Intelligence-based technologies to live easier, faster and more interconnected lives. The everyday use of Artificial Intelligence-based systems have become an intimate part of our lives, and are here to stay.

A popular form of Artificial Intelligence is a bot, a software programmed that can develop a number of tasks on its own and without the help of humans. Examples of activities that a bot can be easily programmed to achieve can be: making restaurant reservations, setting reminders for special dates in the calendar or collecting and displaying information for its user's benefits, summarising large amounts of text, etc. The possibilities are really vast due to the versatility which with bots can be designed.

The most frequent model of bots is a Chatbot, a software capable of simulating a conversation with a person. Chatbot can be defined as “a conversational agent that interacts with users using natural language”. Precisely, because chatbots are able to converse with people, they are becoming increasingly present in messaging applications across the world.

The successors of Eliza

Here are a few examples of some Chatbots that have made some major headlines, at the time of their release in the past years.

Cleverbot: A popular, now considered “old” chatbot. According to Google Analytics, 16.6 million people have used Cleverbot.com in the last year, in 27.3 million sessions, totaling 1.02 billion interactions. It collects data from the artificial conversations it maintains with Internet users; Once the conversation is finished it stores it in a database and uses it later to simulate artificial intelligence. In Cleverbot's official website they enthusiastically share that “Cleverbot comes very close to passing the Turing Test Techniche 2011, IIT Guwahati, India, 3rd September 2011”.

WeChats` Xiaoice (pronounced Shao-ice): Another old favorite it’s an artificial intelligence program designed to chat with people. Its available for users of WeChat and platforms like Weibo or JD.com can talk to her about any topic that comes to mind. The only requirement is to do it in Chinese,

Because is the only language the bot can process properly. Microsoft how develops the chatbots′ software explains that because it is “self-learning and self-growing” the system will in the future accumulated so much date from its interactions with users, that at a future point it will be able to pass the Turing test.

Eugene Goostman: a computer program designed to hold talks — posing as a 13-year-old Ukrainian teenager who on 7 June 2014 managed to fool 33 percent of the 150 human judges who had to decide whether they were talking to a person or not. There is no agreement among experts on whether the chatbot actually managed to pass the test.

And of course the kind of Chatbots that deserves a category of their own, the virtual assistants:

To put Nadellas’ famous chatbot quote in context where he suggests that chatbots will take the places of apps. He views Chatbots as becoming virtual assistants that will be capable of meeting and supplying its user′s different needs. Helping not only with planning with the organization but allowing its users to live easier lives.

Their “goal is to quicken the actions you already take on your phone and other devices, growing ever-more efficient at the job by learning from your behavior”. Virtual assistants are not limited to supporting normal people with their everyday lives.

There also those, designed for business purposes,

Virtual Assitants “are programmed to provide set responses to particular events and requests. It may answer an incoming telephone call with a standard greeting followed by a menu or other information describing available choices and sub-menus available to the user together with the appropriate access method”. McAllister, A.

Examples of popular Virtual Assistants:

Siri by Apple: “A voice-driven assistant that talks back to you — invoked by long-pressing the iPhone or iPad home button — and proactively recommends actions to take” (Newman, 2016) Siri t allows you to ask the mobile, in colloquial language, to perform some of its main functions.

Jarvis by Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook): described by its creator as kind of like Jarvis in ‘Iron Man.’”(Zuckerberg, M. 2016) Because Jarvis is a home assistant it has to be programmed so that it controls house hold items like the Zuckerberg′s toaster or house lights.

Alexa by Amazon: An Artificial intelligence based voice recognition system, which allows you to ask it questions or execute certain functions through commands, in order to get a “smart home”. According to its official website, Alexa currently operates with devices such as lights, watches, and thermostats. Some of them work directly with Alexa, the voice of the Amazon Echo; Others require an external device that is compatible.

Here are some funny moments with Alexa

There's no questioning it, Artificial Intelligence-based technologies offer a plurality of benefits for its′ users everyday lives. Experts in the artificial intelligence field agree that the current technological advancements place us on the verge of a technological revolution.

I personally look forward to the days where I can start my days easily and relaxed while asking my AI of choice, to read my e-mails and maybe even help me pick an outfit based on an algorithm that helps sort through the latest fashion trends while it correlates it with my agenda and the weather forecast. Oh, the happy days! I can barely wait!