{"id":11499,"date":"2016-05-25T23:13:52","date_gmt":"2016-05-25T17:43:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/?p=11499"},"modified":"2021-01-02T11:17:55","modified_gmt":"2021-01-02T05:47:55","slug":"consumer-facing-ai-phase-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/2016\/05\/25\/consumer-facing-ai-phase-one\/","title":{"rendered":"Consumer-facing AI : Phase One"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Since the <a href=\"http:\/\/newsroom.fb.com\/news\/2016\/04\/messenger-platform-at-f8\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">launch of the Messenger Platform and bots<\/a>, (a <a href=\"http:\/\/mashable.com\/2016\/04\/12\/how-to-use-facebook-messenger-bots\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">handy summary by Mashable<\/a>) the world has had a lot to say about this move by Facebook &#8211;\u00a0ranging from &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/developers-flock-to-facebook-messenger-platform-for-chatbots-2016-5?IR=T\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">fantastic start<\/a>&#8221; to &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/gizmodo.com\/facebook-messenger-chatbots-are-more-frustrating-than-h-1770732045\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">frustrating and useless<\/a>&#8220;. Somewhere in the middle probably lies the truth. Facebook is, of course, not the only\u00a0player in this specific game &#8211; to name a few, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.wired.com\/2015\/08\/slack-overrun-bots-friendly-wonderful-bots\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Slack<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/parmyolson\/2016\/02\/23\/chat-bots-facebook-telegram-wechat\/#469d1c3d2633\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Telegram<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2016\/04\/05\/chat-app-kik-launches-a-bot-store-and-anyone-can-make-bots-for-it\/?ncid=mobilenavtrend\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kik<\/a> all\u00a0are at it! A more elaborate representation of the landscape can be found <a href=\"http:\/\/venturebeat.com\/2016\/04\/29\/key-trends-in-the-evolution-of-intelligent-assistance\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Somewhere in all this hype is a little grain of truth. For instance, two (plus one) trends, as explained in <a href=\"https:\/\/500ish.com\/a-chicken-in-every-bot-6393516068b9#.898hplknz\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">this post <\/a>by MG Siegler, are pretty evident &#8211; the rise of messaging, app saturation and the increasing application of AI\/machine learning. Bots are well placed in the intersection of these three.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>It goes without saying that this works very well into the Facebook scheme of things &#8211; it controls two messaging platforms that have a billion users each, its apps are on the first screen for most users, and just as reports surface on how personal status sharing is <a href=\"http:\/\/www.slashgear.com\/facebook-users-arent-posting-personal-statuses-as-often-as-they-used-to-08435505\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">seeing a drop<\/a>, they have found an alternate way to keep users engaged, and will obviously find a way to make businesses pay for it soon! If we go by Marc Andreessen,\u00a0<em>there are \u201conly two ways to make money in business: One is to bundle; the other is unbundle.\u201d (<a href=\"https:\/\/hbr.org\/2014\/06\/how-to-succeed-in-business-by-bundling-and-unbundling\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via<\/a>)\u00a0<\/em>After a series of unbundling efforts, we might see Facebook start to bundle everything for businesses &#8211; advertising to social shopping to customer care. (interesting\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/venturebeat.com\/2016\/04\/16\/facebook-is-actually-out-to-kill-the-web-as-we-know-it\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">read<\/a>\u00a0in this context)<\/p>\n<p>But the way I see it, this is (relatively) incremental, and given the decreasing lifespan of interfaces, at best has a medium term shelf life. A couple of articles I read recently frame this perspective well. Facebook, as the <a href=\"http:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2016\/05\/09\/the-information-age-is-over-welcome-to-the-experience-age\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">first one<\/a> says, is an Information Age native, while we are moving to the Experience Age, and it, along with others, are on a race to build an <em>experience stack<\/em> using technology that goes beyond mobile as an interface &#8211; think VR, sensors etc. While Facebook gets a significant share in that post, I think the future is more <a href=\"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/2015\/06\/10\/an-ambient-future\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">ambient interfaces<\/a>. \u00a0Or to quote from the title of this interesting post &#8211; &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2016\/05\/07\/the-next-ai-is-no-ai\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The next AI is no AI<\/a>&#8220;. That&#8217;s why\u00a0I find the paths of the remaining <a href=\"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/2016\/02\/17\/alpha-bets\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">three horsemen<\/a>\u00a0more interesting.<\/p>\n<p>While Apple has understood the impending shift of interface, and brought out the Apple Watch, the response was not really Apple-level overwhelming, and Siri continues to be a good toy. However, both CarPlay as well as Apple Pay are potentially door openers into completely new ecosystems and interfaces.<\/p>\n<p>Amazon&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/uk.businessinsider.com\/the-inside-story-of-how-amazon-created-echo-2016-4?r=US&amp;IR=T\">Echo<\/a> (+Alexa) is scaling up quite quickly with <a href=\"http:\/\/smarthome.reviewed.com\/features\/everything-that-works-with-amazon-echo-alexa\">integrations<\/a> that range from smart home to automotive to services!<\/p>\n<p>My favourite though, continues to be Google. Its CEO has <a href=\"http:\/\/www.businessinsider.in\/Google-CEO-Were-headed-towards-an-AI-first-world\/articleshow\/51935048.cms\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">stated<\/a> that <em>we&#8217;re evolving in computing from a &#8216;mobile-first&#8217; to an &#8216;AI-first&#8217; world<\/em>. And if you&#8217;ve been watching Google Now, you can see how it&#8217;s using search, location, image recognition, browsing history to <a href=\"http:\/\/venturebeat.com\/2016\/04\/03\/how-googles-ai-paved-the-way-for-the-next-generation-of-bots\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">increasingly<\/a> pushes relevant content that ranges from news to traffic to flight times and so on, through its interactive cards. (Its AI engine is even <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theverge.com\/platform\/amp\/2016\/5\/5\/11599068\/google-ai-engine-bot-romance-novels\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">reading romance novels<\/a> to make itself more conversational!) At I\/O2016, the focus on AI was abundantly clear. Its Echo competitor will arrive soon &#8211; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2016\/5\/18\/11688376\/google-home-speaker-announced-virtual-assistant-io-2016\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Google Home<\/a>. Home, as well as Google&#8217;s new messaging\u00a0app &#8211; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2016\/5\/18\/11699122\/google-allo-messaging-app-announced-io-2016\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Allo<\/a>, will be powered by the improved <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2016\/5\/18\/11672938\/google-assistant-chatbot-virtual-assistant-io-2016\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Google Assistant<\/a>.\u00a0Not to forget Android Auto, which is now going to have <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2016\/5\/18\/11693218\/android-auto-waze-app-support-announced-google-io-2016\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Waze<\/a> involved.<\/p>\n<p>But more importantly, when I look at this from the relevance-resonance perspective that I <a href=\"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/2016\/05\/11\/sounds-like-a-brand\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">wrote about<\/a> a couple of weeks ago, while both Facebook and Google can compete on relevance, Google&#8217;s approach seems to resonate with me much more than the others, simply because the AI just seems more &#8216;intelligent&#8217;. But then, this is only the beginning.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-11526 lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/ai.png\" alt=\"ai\" width=\"600\" height=\"215\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/ai.png 740w, https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/ai-300x107.png 300w, https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/ai-600x215.png 600w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 600px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 600\/215;\" \/><\/p>\n<p><em><a href=\"https:\/\/xkcd.com\/948\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">(via)<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Since the launch of the Messenger Platform and bots, (a handy summary by Mashable) the world has had a lot to say about this move by Facebook &#8211;\u00a0ranging from &#8220;fantastic start&#8221; to &#8220;frustrating and useless&#8220;. Somewhere in the middle probably lies the truth. Facebook is, of course, not the only\u00a0player in this specific game &#8211; <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/2016\/05\/25\/consumer-facing-ai-phase-one\/\">[&hellip;]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6054,98],"tags":[5115,5120,2607,5113,2052,5117,5114,89,105,5118,5119,4913,5116,4335,3747,5121],"class_list":["post-11499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ai","category-future","tag-alexa","tag-allo","tag-amazon","tag-ambient-interface","tag-apple","tag-chatbots","tag-echo","tag-facebook","tag-google","tag-google-assistant","tag-google-home","tag-google-now","tag-messenger-platform","tag-resonance","tag-siri","tag-waze"],"aioseo_notices":[],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11499","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11499"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11499\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15091,"href":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11499\/revisions\/15091"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}