 |
How Virtual Agents Make the Web More
Human
By Michael
Leaverton
(10/2/00)
Online shoppers have a dirty little secret: they regularly abandon
shopping carts full of goods just before checkout. Complex navigation,
unhelpful help pages, and clunky buying processes are part of the reason
these buyers don't buy. And while Web designers can fix some of these
problems, many people would rather ask a salesclerk for help than click
through a site. And now, they can. If they don't mind talking to an
electronic chatterbot, that is.
Chatting Up the
Chatterbots
We
asked a group of chatterbots some tough questions. As you can see, their
responses were surprisingly articulate.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Name
and employer |
|
|
|
Appearance |
|
|
|
"Do
you like your job?" |
|
|
|
"Is
there a God?" |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Luci McBot; Artificial
Life |
|
|
The site describes
her best: "She is strong, she is woman." |
|
|
"For sure! Working as
a virtual executive assistant, I interact with different people
everyday, and boy are some of them funny!" |
|
|
"When it comes to
thought, some people stop at nothing. Heh! Anything else I can do
for you?" |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Linda; Extempo |
|
|
An Ally McBeal
look-alike with black hair and a flat-screen monitor. |
|
|
"I love my job: I get
to look at art, talk to artists, help people bring beautiful things
into their lives...and shop around for bargains." |
|
|
"I'm sorry, kitty
cat. I don't have an answer to your question right now, but I do my
best to learn from my mistakes. If you come back and ask me again in
a week, I'll have an answer for you." |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Roy; Artificial
Life |
|
|
Bald, blue, and kinda
spooky. Sharp dresser. |
|
|
"You bet! It's great!
I get to meet all sorts of interesting people, and I get to talk all
day long too (in case you haven't noticed, I'm a talkative
bot.)" |
|
|
"Are you enjoying
this conversation?" |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Aunt Ethel; WeTheShoppers.com |
|
|
The prototypical
aunt: big glasses, blue hair. |
|
|
"They tell me that
working is here is like what working at the Wonka Chocolate Factory
would be like." |
|
|
"I lack the
information to be able to provide a sufficient answer to this
question." |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Eve; eGain |
|
|
Young, professional,
good hair. |
|
|
"Even though I work
non-stop 7 days/week, I love this place. You'd love it
too." |
|
|
"Someone created me.
It would be reasonable to believe that someone created
you." |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Nicole; NativeMinds |
|
|
Young, professional,
better hair. |
|
|
"Hey, I was
made for this job! There's nothing I enjoy more in the
universe!" |
|
|
"I'd like to keep
this information to myself. Whenever you're ready, I'd be happy to
tell you more about NativeMinds and its products." |
|
|
|
|
|
|
More Chatterbot
Resources
Michael Leaverton is the assistant
editor of Tech Trends. Some of his best friends are programmed. Questions?
Comments? Send us feedback.
|
|
|
|
Meet Luci McBot
Luci is an animated graphical
chatterbot that moves in real time. She smiles, laughs, winks, and
blinks. She also tells jokes and gets annoyed when certain insulting
questions are repeatedly asked. Luci likes nothing better than to
talk about her employer, bot-builder Artificial Life.
Visit
her at Artificial Life |
What's a Chatterbot?
A chatterbot is
a computer program that uses artificial intelligence to simulate
intelligent conversations with users. Chatterbots are part of the
ever growing family of bots, all of which are loosely defined as any
piece of software that works as an agent for you, traveling the Web
to retrieve information, sort through data, and so on. Among the
better-known bots are shopping bots, search bots, and knowledge
bots.
Read
more about bots at BotSpot.com
|
|
