CREATIVECONSTRUCTION

FROM ELIZA TO SIRI AND BEYOND: !Promise and Challenges of Intelligent, Language-controlled Assistants (Chatbots)!!Alexander Braun (@almarrone)!November 3rd, 2016!

CHATBOT ARMS RACE!

3!

CHATBOTS: UNANIMOUSLY THE NEW USER INTERFACE

October2011:Siri

4!

CHATBOTS: UNANIMOUSLY THE NEW USER INTERFACE

November2014:AmazonEcho

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CHATBOTS: UNANIMOUSLY THE NEW USER INTERFACE

October2015:FacebookM

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CHATBOTS: UNANIMOUSLY THE NEW USER INTERFACE

December2015:Microso?Cortana

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CHATBOTS: UNANIMOUSLY THE NEW USER INTERFACE

May2016:GoogleAssistant

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CHATBOTS: UNANIMOUSLY THE NEW USER INTERFACE

July2016:IBMWatsonConversaKon

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CHATBOT REVOLUTION? The sky is the limit!

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CHATBOT REVOLUTION? The sky is the limit!!

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CHATBOT REVOLUTION? The sky is the limit!

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CHATBOT REVOLUTION? The sky is the limit!

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CHATBOT REVOLUTION?

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CHATBOT REVOLUTION? Maybe...!

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CHATBOT REVOLUTION? Maybe...!

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CHATBOT REVOLUTION? Maybe...!

17!

CHATBOT REVOLUTION? Maybe...!

18!

CHATBOT REVOLUTION? Maybe...!

19!

CHATBOT REVOLUTION? Maybe...!

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CHATBOT REVOLUTION? Maybe...!

03.11.16 21!

CLIPPY OR SAMANTHA?

03.11.16 22!

CLIPPY OR SAMANTHA?

03.11.16 23!

CLIPPY OR SAMANTHA?

HISTORY AND MOTIVATION!

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CHATBOTS NOT REALLY NEW...

Publishedin2003hPps://www.amazon.com/Chatbots-KundenkommunikaKon-Xpert-press-German-Alexander/dp/3642624111/

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CHATBOTS NOT REALLY NEW... 1966: ELIZA by Joseph Weizenbaum!

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MOTIVATION: REDUCE FRICTION, IMPROVE USABILITY From command line to GUI to natural language interface + no app-switching!

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MOTIVATION: IN SEARCH FOR A NEW RUNTIME Breaking the app-install threshold!

CHALLENGES TODAY!

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BOT TYPES

Bot depends on database with finite information coded and curated by humans.!

Rules-based Bots (-> IVR?)!

Passing on message to customer service agent when stuck.!

Curated Bots (-> Ticketing system?)!

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PROBLEMS TODAY: DESIGN FLAWS Identifying common commands!

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PROBLEMS TODAY: DESIGN FLAWS Executing identified commands!

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PROBLEMS TODAY: DESIGN FLAWS Personality getting in the way!

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PROBLEMS TODAY: MAINTENANCE Keeping database up-to-date!

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PROBLEMS TODAY: MAINTENANCE Keeping database up-to-date!

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PROBLEMS TODAY: COMMON SENSE Ambiguity!

User: Siri, call me an ambulance. !Siri: Okay, from now on I’ll call you “an ambulance.”!!I want to listen to Led Zeppelin.!Play Stairway to Heaven.!I’d like to listen to reggae.!I like No woman no cry.!!!

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PROBLEMS TODAY: COMMON SENSE Ambiguity!

“The city councilmen refused the demonstrators a permit because they feared violence.”!!Who does ‘they’ refer to?!

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PROBLEMS TODAY: COMMON SENSE Ambiguity!

In shopping, if I say, ‘I want to get a case for my guitar; it should be strong.’ !!So does ‘it’ refer to the case or the guitar?!

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PROBLEMS TODAY: COMMON SENSE Ambiguity: Chatbots barely better than chance!

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TEACHING COMPUTERS COMMON SENSE

•  OpenCyc (http://opencyc.org/) !•  Microsoft Concept Graph (https://concept.research.microsoft.com/) !

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STATUS: MORE, NOT LESS FRICTION As opaque as a DOS prompt!

No UI -> completely transparent to the user!

Vision!

Voice looks like the ultimate unlimited, general purpose UI, but actually only works if you can narrow the domain.!

Reality today!

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STATUS: MORE, NOT LESS FRICTION Where Siri went wrong!

•  Expectations: Can answer anything – unlimited, general purpose UI.!

Siri vs. Alexa !

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STATUS: MORE, NOT LESS FRICTION Where Siri went wrong!

•  Expectations: Can answer anything – unlimited, general purpose UI.!•  Reality: Limited to certain, not clearly defined domains.!

Siri vs. Alexa !

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STATUS: MORE, NOT LESS FRICTION Where Siri went wrong!

•  Expectations: Can answer anything – unlimited, general purpose UI.!•  Reality: Limited to certain, not clearly defined domains.!•  Problem: User has to find out via trial and error. !

Siri vs. Alexa !

45!

STATUS: MORE, NOT LESS FRICTION Where Siri went wrong!

•  Expectations: Can answer anything – unlimited, general purpose UI.!•  Reality: Limited to certain, not clearly defined domains.!•  Problem: User has to find out via trial and error. !•  Result: Once users find out, they stop exploring. Assistant gets better,

user stays ignorant. Huge promise shrunk to just making voice calls and sending messages to contacts, maybe getting the weather.!

Siri vs. Alexa !

46!

STATUS: MORE, NOT LESS FRICTION Alexa‘s learnings – and challenges!

•  Expectations: Set to narrow scope of domains.!

Siri vs. Alexa !

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STATUS: MORE, NOT LESS FRICTION Alexa‘s learnings – and challenges!

•  Expectations: Set to narrow scope of domains.!•  Result: Less opaque – less disappointment.!

Siri vs. Alexa !

48!

STATUS: MORE, NOT LESS FRICTION Alexa‘s learnings – and challenges!

•  Expectations: Set to narrow scope of domains.!•  Result: Less opaque – less disappointment.!•  Problem: Efficiency/Effectiveness...!1.  "Alexa, add sponges to my shopping list.“!2.  Open Alexa app. !3.  Select "Shopping and To-Do Lists" from the sandwich menu. !4.  Select "Sponges" from the list. !5.  Select "Search Amazon for sponges" from pop-up list. !6.  Wait for iOS to open the Amazon app (separate app from the Alexa app). !7.  Scroll down and select the brand I like. !8.  Check out.!

Siri vs. Alexa !

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STATUS: MORE, NOT LESS FRICTION Efficiency and discoverability!

WHERE BOTS WORK!

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USAGE SCENARIOS Architecture: Thread-centric UI paradigm!

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USAGE SCENARIOS Architecture: Horizontal AI with API access to other services!

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USAGE SCENARIOS Where bots work!

•  Quick interactions: The fewer number of required back-and-forth!

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USAGE SCENARIOS Where bots work!

•  Quick interactions: The fewer number of required back-and-forth!•  Simple interactions: Not many options to choose from (shoe shopping...)!

55!

USAGE SCENARIOS Where bots work!

•  Quick interactions: The fewer number of required back-and-forth!•  Simple interactions: Not many options to choose from (shoe shopping...)!•  Context available to bot: Reducing load on user by pulling relevant cues and

context to make interations efficient!

56!

USAGE SCENARIOS Where bots work!

•  Quick interactions: The fewer number of required back-and-forth!•  Simple interactions: Not many options to choose from (shoe shopping...)!•  Context available to bot: Reducing load on user by pulling relevant cues and

context to make interations efficient!

•  Users maintain control: Clear permissions – not just „on“ and „blocked“!

57!

USAGE SCENARIOS Where bots work!

•  Quick interactions: The fewer number of required back-and-forth!•  Simple interactions: Not many options to choose from (shoe shopping...)!•  Context available to bot: Reducing load on user by pulling relevant cues and

context to make interations efficient!

•  Users maintain control: Clear permissions – not just „on“ and „blocked“!•  Users don‘t have investments in existing apps: New or temporary interactions!

THANK YOU

THANK YOU!

Phone: +49 (0)30 / 4004 1922 !

www.creativeconstruction.de!

ALEXANDER BRAUN @almarrone | !alexander@creativeconstruction.de !

APPENDIX!

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BOT PLATFORMS

•  Facebook Bot Engine (https://wit.ai/) !•  API.ai: Web-base bot framework (https://docs.api.ai/) !•  Microsoft Bot Framework (https://dev.botframework.com/) !•  Viv (http://viv.ai/) -> acquired by Samsung!

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LINKS & THANKS

http://allthingsd.com/20111011/the-iphone-finds-its-voice/!http://thenextweb.com/insider/2014/11/06/amazon-introduces-echo-voice-controlled-assistant-home/!https://www.wired.com/2015/08/facebook-launches-m-new-kind-virtual-assistant/!https://www.engadget.com/2015/12/09/microsoft-officially-launches-cortana-on-iphone-and-android/!http://mashable.com/2016/05/18/google-assistant/!https://www.ibm.com/watson/developercloud/conversation.html!http://ben-evans.com/benedictevans/2016/3/30/chat-bots-conversation-and-ai-as-an-interface!https://techcrunch.com/2015/09/29/forget-apps-now-the-bots-take-over/!http://venturebeat.com/2016/08/02/why-chatbots-are-replacing-apps/!http://venturebeat.com/2016/05/01/the-200-billion-dollar-chatbot-disruption/!http://venturebeat.com/2016/10/23/ai-agents-like-alexa-siri-and-m-will-create-the-first-trillion-dollar-company/!http://s2.quickmeme.com/img/c3/c3305497a908aed0e1792f5d6be8bb85b8878081952e9874ad45fe22692451d0.jpg!http://www.recode.net/2016/10/12/13251618/mossberg-apple-siri-digital-assistant-dumb!https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/apr/14/facebook-messenger-spammy-chatbot-must-improve-and-fast!https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/apr/29/please-facebook-dont-make-me-speak-to-your-awful-chatbots!https://www.technologyreview.com/s/601897/tougher-turing-test-exposes-chatbots-stupidity/!https://www.technologyreview.com/s/601329/is-the-chatbot-trend-one-big-misunderstanding/!http://www.geekwire.com/2016/long-journey-facebook-messenger-boss-says-chatbots-got-really-overhyped/!http://venturebeat.com/2016/10/07/lets-be-honest-chatbots-kind-of-suck-for-now/!https://cdn.theatlantic.com/assets/media/img/mt/2015/06/image043/lead_960.jpg?1435096373!https://www.wired.com/2014/01/siri-her-reaction/!https://www.amazon.com/Chatbots-Kundenkommunikation-Xpert-press-German-Alexander/dp/3642624111/!https://www.cs.umd.edu/hcil/muiseum/weizenbaum/joseph_pic.jpg!https://knowledgeillusion.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/4966605.gif!https://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/toolsctr/v1r0/topic/uxspi/artwork/cli_commands.jpg!http://www.conceptdraw.com/How-To-Guide/picture/OSX10.10YosemiteApps.png!http://pocketnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/TellMe1.jpg!http://blogs.aspect.com/bot-framework-s-comparison/!http://commonsensereasoning.org/winograd.html!http://opencyc.org/!https://concept.research.microsoft.com/!http://ben-evans.com/benedictevans/2016/10/10/echo-interfaces-and-friction!https://medium.com/@aeisenberger/messaging-bots-and-slack-a52c894a4b2d#.ot0103mti!!