Do Chatbots Represent the Future of Communication?

Recently, Microsoft’s very own chatbot “Tay” grabbed headlines for all the wrong reasons.

However well-intentioned “Tay” may have been to start with, it’s hard to frame the endeavor at this

point as anything other than a disappointment, but does that mean the end for chatbots?

The answer at this point would most likely be a no, and while Microsoft’s foray into chatbots may not

have gone according to plan, that doesn’t mean that future efforts will be similarly futile.

Even if “Tay” wasn’t a hit, there’s a good chance that people will still be seeing more of her and others

similar to her in the near future, and that’s because the history of humans interacting with technology

suggests that there’s nowhere to go but up at this point.

To think that the failure of “Tay” is somehow an indictment of chatbot technology would be

presumptive at this point, and there’s no reason to believe that things cannot get better.

After all, for better or worse, “Tay” was a product of her surroundings, so tweak that by even a few

degrees and a potentially better outcome could be had.

“Tay” is not the end of the road, far from it actually, and in the long run, her spectacular failure may just

be another stumbling block that technology will yet again have to conquer if it aims to make more

meaningful progress.

As the Financial Times noted, “Tay,” or at least a more refined version of her tech, may even bring about

change in the way that people communicate.

Instead of people being able to easily reach and interact with other people at the end of a phone or chat

line, what they may find is another chatbot, but one that is more polite, knowledgeable and effective.

Is a future with the likes of chatbots such as “Tay” inevitable? At this juncture, it may simply be too early

to tell, but to suggest that it may not veer down that road entirely is also just a guess for now.

“Tay” as she is now is probably not the future of communication, but a better version of her could

certainly be part of that picture.

Source:

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d0216d04-f1fa- 11e5-9f20- c3a047354386.html#axzz44GtAlI4j