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On Tuesday, Twitter introduced two new features in its Direct Messages (DM) channel aimed at creating a better conversational experience for both businesses and consumers.

• Welcome Messages enables businesses to set expectations as they enter a DM conversation with customers. The automated message, which can be sent without waiting for the customer to send the first message, can contain deep links to specific Tweets, websites, or apps.  
• Quick Replies will make it easier for businesses to prompt customers with the best ways to reply to a DM; businesses can send customers a list of options to choose from or advise them to text specific words. Prompted responses have proven particularly useful for chatbots in messaging apps like Kik and Messenger, because they minimize the effort and confusion that occurs when users try to interact with chatbots. 

Twitter's announcement is an attempt to replicate the same personalized, yet highly scalable environment chat apps like Messenger and Kik provide. This makes sense considering the company's struggles to remain relevant in the increasingly chat-app-centric mobile world. 

Chatbots are well suited for Twitter's DM channel, especially considering the company's efforts to highlight its customer relationship management properties. This was most recently brought up in a survey conducted by Twitter and Applied Marketing, which found the following:  

• Responding to customers on Twitter increases word-of-mouth activity, likeliness to recommend to others, and customer satisfaction. Overall, customers are 44% more likely to share a positive experience after receiving a positive response on Twitter compared with other channels. Similarly, they are 30% more likely to recommend a brand. 
• Responding to Tweets boosts customers' willingness to spend. On average, users are willing to spend between 3% and 20% more on a business' items in the future. 
• The faster the response, the greater the revenue generated. While this varied across industries, the study showed that responding in 5 minutes or less greatly impacted the willingness to spend on the next transaction. 

Advancements in artificial intelligence, coupled with the proliferation of messaging apps, are fueling the development of chatbots — software programs that use messaging as the interface through which to carry out any number of tasks, from scheduling a meeting, to reporting weather, to helping users buy a pair of shoes. 

Foreseeing immense potential, businesses are starting to invest heavily in the burgeoning bot economy. A number of brands and publishers have already deployed bots on messaging and collaboration channels, including HP, 1-800-Flowers, and CNN. While the bot revolution is still in the early phase, many believe 2016 will be the year these conversational interactions take off.

Laurie Beaver, research associate for BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, has compiled a detailed report on chatbots that explores the growing and disruptive bot landscape by investigating what bots are, how businesses are leveraging them, and where they will have the biggest impact.

The report outlines the burgeoning bot ecosystem by segment, looks at companies that offer bot-enabling technology, distribution channels, and some of the key third-party bots already on offer. The report also forecasts the potential annual savings that businesses could realize if chatbots replace some of their customer service and sales reps. Finally, it compares the potential of chatbot monetization on a platform like Facebook Messenger against the iOS App Store and Google Play store.

Here are some of the key takeaways:

• AI has reached a stage in which chatbots can have increasingly engaging and human conversations, allowing businesses to leverage the inexpensive and wide-reaching technology to engage with more consumers.
• Chatbots are particularly well suited for mobile — perhaps more so than apps. Messaging is at the heart of the mobile experience, as the rapid adoption of chat apps demonstrates.
• The chatbot ecosystem is already robust, encompassing many different third-party chat bots, native bots, distribution channels, and enabling technology companies. 
• Chatbots could be lucrative for messaging apps and the developers who build bots for these platforms, similar to how app stores have developed into moneymaking ecosystems.  

In full, the report:

• Breaks down the pros and cons of chatbots.
• Explains the different ways businesses can access, utilize, and distribute content via chatbots.
• Forecasts the potential impact chatbots could have for businesses.
• Looks at the potential barriers that could limit the growth, adoption, and use of chatbots.

To get your copy of this invaluable guide, choose one of these options:

1. Subscribe to an ALL-ACCESS Membership with BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report AND over 100 other expertly researched deep-dive reports, subscriptions to all of our daily newsletters, and much more. >> START A MEMBERSHIP
2. Purchase the report and download it immediately from our research store. >> BUY THE REPORT

The choice is yours. But however you decide to acquire this report, you’ve given yourself a powerful advantage in your understanding of chatbots.

Join the conversation about this story »

Diego Ventura has always been ahead of the curve.

Back in 1995, right at the start of the dot-com boom, Ventura started a company called STEFRA, building video chat software for the better part of a decade before Skype was so much as an idea.

One of STEFRA's key partnerships was with webcam manufacturer Logitech, selling a software-plus-hardware bundle to businesses for video conferences. This was great news for the bottom line — but STEFRA's customer support was totally crushed by the sheer number of users who were coming online with their software.

To deal with the onslaught of customer service supports, Venture and STEFRA built an automatic customer service robot to answer common questions via chat. It seems obvious in hindsight, but in the mid-nineties, it was totally revolutionary. 

With the success of the automatic customer support platform, Ventura sensed opportunity. He got a patent on the technology, titled "Internet expert system and method using free-form messaging in a dialogue format." Companies like IBM, Oracle, and AT&T have been required to give Ventura proper credit in their own patent filings around chat.

And in 1999, STEFRA became NoHold, a company that outsourced the technology to customers including Dell, Cisco, Lenovo, and Toshiba.

Today, 17 years later, Ventura is looking downright prescient: What NoHold called an "expert system" for customer support in the nineties is what Silicon Valley is now calling a "chatbot." 

And those chatbots are going to be huge, at least "if Mark Zuckerberg is right about all businesses being reachable by Facebook Messenger," says Ventura. And to that end, NoHold is today announcing a connector to hook up NoHold's patented technology to Facebook Messenger.

'Hard-headed'

Ventura describes himself as having a "hard-headed mentality" — back when NoHold was founded in 1999, he says, the company's investors pleaded with him to keep "artificial intelligence" out of the company's marketing, amid over-hype around the technology in the eighties.

Now that everyone from Google to financial services are talking about artificial intelligence, Ventura looks right once again. Everybody is building artificially intelligent systems, and turning to Facebook Messenger-style chatbots to power them.

The trick, Ventura says, is that it's much easier said than done. Doing customer service automatically via bots requires a lot of specialized expertise. Any given customer service question may require the system to dig deep into a variety of manuals, support pages, and other resources to get the right answer.

"To be able to answer those questions, the virtual assistant has to be connected to all this data," Ventura says.

That's NoHold's sweet spot, Ventura says. It's been doing this for 17 years for big tech companies, helping them automate whatever customer service can be automated and shunting what can't over to human operators.

As businesses turn to chat to better connect with their customers, Ventura says, it's a huge opportunity for NoHold. And with that Facebook connector, it helps customers take advantage of the current Messenger craze. And it means that Ventura's long bet on chatbots is looking to pay off.

"A couple of years ago, nobody cared what we were doing," Ventura says. 

SEE ALSO: Investor and Sun cofounder Vinod Khosla says 80% of IT jobs can be replaced by automation and it's 'exciting'

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: This hidden soccer game in Facebook Messenger will have you addicted in no time

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Facebook announced new capabilities for developers building Messenger, according to TechCrunch.

Bot developers will now be able to track their bots on Facebook’s free analytics platform alongside tracking related to their Facebook ads. Facebook also opened up its FbStart developer program to bot developers.

These new capabilities will make it easier for bot developers to build new bots and monitor their bots’ activity and performance. Bot developers have been looking for more support form Facebook, particularly in monitoring their bots’ activity to measure their adoption and popularity among consumers, TechCrunch reported. While the number of bots on Messenger has exploded to more than 34,000, developers likely want to keep a careful eye on their adoption to see if bots are just the latest fads or if consumer interactions with them continue to grow.

The analytics features will allow developers to track their bots’ interactions across mobile and desktop devices, as well as measure customer journeys through different apps and websites. This means that developers will be able to track customer interactions that may begin with clicking on a Facebook News Feed ad and then go through their Messenger bot.

Developers will also gain statistics on messages sent and received through their bots, and will be able to see when people block or unblock their bot. Facebook will also deliver anonymized data on users interacting with the bots, detailing their age, gender, location, interest, and age demographics. Facebook may look to open up their bot analytics to other platforms in the future, allowing developers to track their bots’ interactions and performance across multiple messaging platforms.

Advancements in artificial intelligence, coupled with the proliferation of messaging apps, are fueling the development of chatbots — software programs that use messaging as the interface through which to carry out any number of tasks, from scheduling a meeting, to reporting weather, to helping users buy a pair of shoes. 

Foreseeing immense potential, businesses are starting to invest heavily in the burgeoning bot economy. A number of brands and publishers have already deployed bots on messaging and collaboration channels, including HP, 1-800-Flowers, and CNN. While the bot revolution is still in the early phase, many believe 2016 will be the year these conversational interactions take off.

Laurie Beaver, research associate for BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, has compiled a detailed report on chatbots that explores the growing and disruptive bot landscape by investigating what bots are, how businesses are leveraging them, and where they will have the biggest impact.

The report outlines the burgeoning bot ecosystem by segment, looks at companies that offer bot-enabling technology, distribution channels, and some of the key third-party bots already on offer. The report also forecasts the potential annual savings that businesses could realize if chatbots replace some of their customer service and sales reps. Finally, it compares the potential of chatbot monetization on a platform like Facebook Messenger against the iOS App Store and Google Play store.

Here are some of the key takeaways:

• AI has reached a stage in which chatbots can have increasingly engaging and human conversations, allowing businesses to leverage the inexpensive and wide-reaching technology to engage with more consumers.
• Chatbots are particularly well suited for mobile — perhaps more so than apps. Messaging is at the heart of the mobile experience, as the rapid adoption of chat apps demonstrates.
• The chatbot ecosystem is already robust, encompassing many different third-party chat bots, native bots, distribution channels, and enabling technology companies. 
• Chatbots could be lucrative for messaging apps and the developers who build bots for these platforms, similar to how app stores have developed into moneymaking ecosystems.  

In full, the report:

• Breaks down the pros and cons of chatbots.
• Explains the different ways businesses can access, utilize, and distribute content via chatbots.
• Forecasts the potential impact chatbots could have for businesses.
• Looks at the potential barriers that could limit the growth, adoption, and use of chatbots.

To get your copy of this invaluable guide, choose one of these options:

1. Subscribe to an ALL-ACCESS Membership with BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report AND over 100 other expertly researched deep-dive reports, subscriptions to all of our daily newsletters, and much more. >> START A MEMBERSHIP
2. Purchase the report and download it immediately from our research store. >> BUY THE REPORT

The choice is yours. But however you decide to acquire this report, you’ve given yourself a powerful advantage in your understanding of chatbots.

Join the conversation about this story »

This story was delivered to BI Intelligence Apps and Platforms Briefing subscribers. To learn more and subscribe, please click here.

Apple filed a patent last year to integrate Siri with its iMessage platform for iOS devices, TechCrunch reported.

The voice-based virtual assistant would be able to conduct activities like making payments, scheduling appointments, and providing weather updates within a chat in the iMessage application.

The patent filing clearly indicates that Apple has been working on bringing chatbots and other messaging app functions to iMessage.

The patent provided an example of how the assistant could schedule meetings by scanning the calendars of everyone involved in a group chat, finding times when they are available, and then allowing everyone to vote on the best time slot within the chat. It could also conduct a person-to-person payment by scanning for applications on the user’s phone that can conduct the transaction, like Square Cash or Venmo, and then allow the user make a selection with a tap.

The patent also describes how the company would ensure data security and privacy during interactions using Siri within iMessage. For instance, users could opt in or out of sharing any personal or device data with others, including businesses, much like iOS users can opt in or out of sharing ad-tracking data in iOS settings. The patent also states that companies would need informed consent from users before collecting such data. These measures indicate that Apple is already considering how brands could interact with consumers through iMessage via chatbots.

The patent suggests that Apple is working to turn iMessage into a full-fledged messaging app that can compete with Facebook Messenger, Google Allo, and others. Such full-fledged messaging services with chatbots and voice-command capabilities are set to become a competitive feature for high-end smartphones. Google heavily emphasized the capabilities of its “smart” messaging app, Allo, when it unveiled its Pixel smartphone earlier this year.

The Allo app will be available for other Android devices as well, although Google Assistant, Google’s new Siri competitor, will be available only on the Pixel phone for now. Additionally, Samsung will reportedly include its own proprietary voice-based virtual assistant in the S8, the next generation of its flagship handset. Apple will have to compete against popular apps like Facebook Messenger to gain user and brand engagement with a full-fledged messaging platform.

Advancements in artificial intelligence, coupled with the proliferation of messaging apps, are fueling the development of chatbots — software programs that use messaging as the interface through which to carry out any number of tasks, from scheduling a meeting, to reporting weather, to helping users buy a pair of shoes. 

Foreseeing immense potential, businesses are starting to invest heavily in the burgeoning bot economy. A number of brands and publishers have already deployed bots on messaging and collaboration channels, including HP, 1-800-Flowers, and CNN. While the bot revolution is still in the early phase, many believe 2016 will be the year these conversational interactions take off.

Laurie Beaver, research associate for BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, has compiled a detailed report on chatbots that explores the growing and disruptive bot landscape by investigating what bots are, how businesses are leveraging them, and where they will have the biggest impact.

The report outlines the burgeoning bot ecosystem by segment, looks at companies that offer bot-enabling technology, distribution channels, and some of the key third-party bots already on offer. The report also forecasts the potential annual savings that businesses could realize if chatbots replace some of their customer service and sales reps. Finally, it compares the potential of chatbot monetization on a platform like Facebook Messenger against the iOS App Store and Google Play store.

Here are some of the key takeaways:

• AI has reached a stage in which chatbots can have increasingly engaging and human conversations, allowing businesses to leverage the inexpensive and wide-reaching technology to engage with more consumers.
• Chatbots are particularly well suited for mobile — perhaps more so than apps. Messaging is at the heart of the mobile experience, as the rapid adoption of chat apps demonstrates.
• The chatbot ecosystem is already robust, encompassing many different third-party chat bots, native bots, distribution channels, and enabling technology companies. 
• Chatbots could be lucrative for messaging apps and the developers who build bots for these platforms, similar to how app stores have developed into moneymaking ecosystems.  

In full, the report:

• Breaks down the pros and cons of chatbots.
• Explains the different ways businesses can access, utilize, and distribute content via chatbots.
• Forecasts the potential impact chatbots could have for businesses.
• Looks at the potential barriers that could limit the growth, adoption, and use of chatbots.

To get your copy of this invaluable guide, choose one of these options:

1. Subscribe to an ALL-ACCESS Membership with BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report AND over 100 other expertly researched deep-dive reports, subscriptions to all of our daily newsletters, and much more. >> START A MEMBERSHIP
2. Purchase the report and download it immediately from our research store. >> BUY THE REPORT

The choice is yours. But however you decide to acquire this report, you’ve given yourself a powerful advantage in your understanding of chatbots.

Join the conversation about this story »

Improving artificial intelligence (AI) technology and the proliferation of messaging apps — which enable users and businesses to interact through a variety of mediums, including text, voice, image, video, and file sharing — are fueling the popularity of chatbots.

These software programs use messaging as an interface through which to carry out various tasks, like checking the weather or scheduling a meeting. Bots are still nascent and monetization models have yet to be established for the tech, but there are a number of existing strategies — like "as-a-service" or affiliate marketing — that will likely prove successful for bots used as a tool within messaging apps.

Chatbots can also provide brands with value adds — services that don't directly generate revenue, but help increase the ability of brands and businesses to better target and serve customers, and increase productivity. These include bots used for research, lead generation, and customer service.

A new report from BI Intelligence investigates how brands can monetize their chatbots by tailoring existing models. It also explores various ways chatbots can be used to cut businesses' operational costs. And finally, it highlights the slew of barriers that brands need to overcome in order to tap into the potentially lucrative market. 

Here are some of the key takeaways: 

• Chatbot adoption has already taken off in the US with more than half of US users between the ages of 18 and 55 having used them, according to exclusive BI Intelligence survey data.
• Chatbots boast a number of distinct features that make them a perfect vehicle for brands to reach consumers. These include a global presence, high retention rates, and an ability to appeal to a younger demographic.
• Businesses and brands are looking to capitalize on the potential to monetize the software. BI Intelligence identifies four existing models that can be successfully tailored for chatbots. These models include Bots-as-a-Service, native content, affiliate marketing, and retail sales.
• Chatbots can also provide brands with value adds, or services that don't directly generate revenue. Bots used for research, lead generation, and customer service can cut down on companies' operational costs.
• There are several benchmarks chatbots must reach, and barriers they must overcome, before becoming successful revenue generators. 

In full, the report:

• Explains the different ways businesses can access, utilize, and distribute content via chatbots.
• Breaks down the pros and cons of each chatbot monetization model.
• Identifies the additional value chatbots can provide businesses outside of direct monetization.
• Looks at the potential barriers that could limit the growth, adoption, and use of chatbots and therefore their earning potential.

Interested in getting the full report? Here are several ways to access it:

1. Subscribe to an All-Access pass to BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report and over 100 other expertly researched reports. As an added bonus, you'll also gain access to all future reports and daily newsletters to ensure you stay ahead of the curve and benefit personally and professionally. >>Learn More Now
2. Purchase & download the full report from our research store. >> Purchase & Download Now

Join the conversation about this story »

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Amazon is opening up its machine-learning capabilities to third-party developers with its new AI platform, according to TechCrunch.

The service, which was introduced at Amazon's re:Invent developer conference in Las Vegas on Wednesday, boasts three new tools that span the whole gamut of machine learning — image recognition, text-to-speech, and a platform that lets developers build conversational applications:

• Rekognition is an image-recognition service similar to Google's, Microsoft's, and Facebook's image-recognition offerings. Image recognition is an increasingly important tool as smartphone cameras become more prevalent in search and communications.
• Polly is Amazon’s text-to-speech service that uses machine learning and natural-language understanding (NLU) to produce more natural, life-like speech. It can distinguish between words that are spelled the same but pronounced differently, such as in “I live in Seattle” and “Live from New York,” Amazon explains. This is an important feature for developers looking to build apps with voice assistants.
• Lex is arguably the most important of the three announcements. Effectively, this is the technology that powers Alexa, Amazon’s virtual assistant featured in the Echo. Lex will enable developers to build all kinds of conversation applications, including chatbots and mobile and web applications. The apps can be launched on platforms like Facebook Messenger and eventually Slack, as well as existing communications platforms such as Twilio, Salesforce, and Zendesk, VentureBeat reports. 

Amazon’s announcement strengthens its position in the burgeoning chatbot and machine-learning industry. It also puts it in the company of other tech giants like Microsoft and Facebook, which are looking to leverage their in-house expertise in the growing AI field. The sheer size of Amazon and Amazon Web Services (AWS) — the largest cloud company globally — means that a larger audience of developers and businesses will have access to build, deploy, and run conversational applications.

This will help encourage greater awareness of the technology, and likely indicates that intelligent, conversational software is another step closer to mass adoption and use.

Advancements in artificial intelligence, coupled with the proliferation of messaging apps, are fueling the development of chatbots — software programs that use messaging as the interface through which to carry out any number of tasks, from scheduling a meeting, to reporting weather, to helping users buy a pair of shoes. 

Foreseeing immense potential, businesses are starting to invest heavily in the burgeoning bot economy. A number of brands and publishers have already deployed bots on messaging and collaboration channels, including HP, 1-800-Flowers, and CNN. While the bot revolution is still in the early phase, many believe 2016 will be the year these conversational interactions take off.

Laurie Beaver, research associate for BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, has compiled a detailed report on chatbots that explores the growing and disruptive bot landscape by investigating what bots are, how businesses are leveraging them, and where they will have the biggest impact.

The report outlines the burgeoning bot ecosystem by segment, looks at companies that offer bot-enabling technology, distribution channels, and some of the key third-party bots already on offer. The report also forecasts the potential annual savings that businesses could realize if chatbots replace some of their customer service and sales reps. Finally, it compares the potential of chatbot monetization on a platform like Facebook Messenger against the iOS App Store and Google Play store.

Here are some of the key takeaways:

• AI has reached a stage in which chatbots can have increasingly engaging and human conversations, allowing businesses to leverage the inexpensive and wide-reaching technology to engage with more consumers.
• Chatbots are particularly well suited for mobile — perhaps more so than apps. Messaging is at the heart of the mobile experience, as the rapid adoption of chat apps demonstrates.
• The chatbot ecosystem is already robust, encompassing many different third-party chat bots, native bots, distribution channels, and enabling technology companies. 
• Chatbots could be lucrative for messaging apps and the developers who build bots for these platforms, similar to how app stores have developed into moneymaking ecosystems.  

In full, the report:

• Breaks down the pros and cons of chatbots.
• Explains the different ways businesses can access, utilize, and distribute content via chatbots.
• Forecasts the potential impact chatbots could have for businesses.
• Looks at the potential barriers that could limit the growth, adoption, and use of chatbots.

To get your copy of this invaluable guide, choose one of these options:

1. Subscribe to an ALL-ACCESS Membership with BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report AND over 100 other expertly researched deep-dive reports, subscriptions to all of our daily newsletters, and much more. >> START A MEMBERSHIP
2. Purchase the report and download it immediately from our research store. >> BUY THE REPORT

The choice is yours. But however you decide to acquire this report, you’ve given yourself a powerful advantage in your understanding of chatbots.

Join the conversation about this story »

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Facebook has released an explainer on artificial intelligence (AI) with commentary from Yann Lecun, the company's head of AI research.

This consists of a written post outlining the principles of AI, and a video series briefly explaining key concepts like machine learning, gradient descent, deep learning, back propagation, and convolutional neural networks. Each of the above mentioned techniques are central to Facebook's progress in image-object, text, and speech recognition.

At the highest level, Facebook describes the three types of learning in AI:

• Reinforcement learning. Inspired by behavioral psychology, this area of machine learning focuses on reward-based decision-making — in other words, teaching machines to take actions in the pursuit of a reward. Reinforcement learning is frequently used when training machines to play and win at games like chess, Go, and video games. Its principal disadvantage is that an extremely large number of trials are needed for the machine to learn a simple task.
• Supervised learning. The most common mode of learning for a machine, supervised learning is like showing a child how to recognize an object by showing them a picture book, where the adult knows the answer and the child learns by observation and experience. At first, the machine won’t know how to distinguish the object, but will learn to after thousands or millions of trial runs with different labeled images. Eventually, the machine will be able to recognize the object even in images that it has never seen before, achieving what’s called “generalization ability.”
• Unsupervised/predictive learning. This refers to the kind of learning carried out naturally by humans and animals, which occurs spontaneously, in an unsupervised manner, through observation, experience and intuition, over the course of a lifetime. Humans don’t know how to teach machines at this level yet, not in a way that’s similar to humans or animals. Our dearth of understanding in this space – our lack of techniques for unsurprised or predictive AI learning – is a major stumbling block in AI right now.

AI is one of three areas in Facebook's 1o-year innovation roadmap, alongside greater connectivity initiatives, and virtual and augmented reality. Over 40 teams at the company and more than a quarter of its engineers use AI in the products they build. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg touched on this in the Q3 earnings call:

• Linguistic understanding. This includes initiatives to read and understand articles and posts on the platform, messages between users and businesses to create appropriate auto-reply functions for chatbots, surfacing relevant and interesting content in news feed.
• Visual understanding. This involves understanding what’s in photos and videos, what people are doing inside the videos, and the objects in the scene, which can then be used to help visually impaired people, as well as create better rankings in the news feed.

Advancements in artificial intelligence, coupled with the proliferation of messaging apps, are fueling the development of chatbots — software programs that use messaging as the interface through which to carry out any number of tasks, from scheduling a meeting, to reporting weather, to helping users buy a pair of shoes. 

Foreseeing immense potential, businesses are starting to invest heavily in the burgeoning bot economy. A number of brands and publishers have already deployed bots on messaging and collaboration channels, including HP, 1-800-Flowers, and CNN. While the bot revolution is still in the early phase, many believe 2016 will be the year these conversational interactions take off.

Laurie Beaver, research associate for BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, has compiled a detailed report on chatbots that explores the growing and disruptive bot landscape by investigating what bots are, how businesses are leveraging them, and where they will have the biggest impact.

The report outlines the burgeoning bot ecosystem by segment, looks at companies that offer bot-enabling technology, distribution channels, and some of the key third-party bots already on offer. The report also forecasts the potential annual savings that businesses could realize if chatbots replace some of their customer service and sales reps. Finally, it compares the potential of chatbot monetization on a platform like Facebook Messenger against the iOS App Store and Google Play store.

Here are some of the key takeaways:

• AI has reached a stage in which chatbots can have increasingly engaging and human conversations, allowing businesses to leverage the inexpensive and wide-reaching technology to engage with more consumers.
• Chatbots are particularly well suited for mobile — perhaps more so than apps. Messaging is at the heart of the mobile experience, as the rapid adoption of chat apps demonstrates.
• The chatbot ecosystem is already robust, encompassing many different third-party chat bots, native bots, distribution channels, and enabling technology companies. 
• Chatbots could be lucrative for messaging apps and the developers who build bots for these platforms, similar to how app stores have developed into moneymaking ecosystems.  

In full, the report:

• Breaks down the pros and cons of chatbots.
• Explains the different ways businesses can access, utilize, and distribute content via chatbots.
• Forecasts the potential impact chatbots could have for businesses.
• Looks at the potential barriers that could limit the growth, adoption, and use of chatbots.

To get your copy of this invaluable guide, choose one of these options:

1. Subscribe to an ALL-ACCESS Membership with BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report AND over 100 other expertly researched deep-dive reports, subscriptions to all of our daily newsletters, and much more. >> START A MEMBERSHIP
2. Purchase the report and download it immediately from our research store. >> BUY THE REPORT

The choice is yours. But however you decide to acquire this report, you’ve given yourself a powerful advantage in your understanding of chatbots.

Join the conversation about this story »

This story was delivered to BI Intelligence Apps and Platforms Briefing subscribers. To learn more and subscribe, please click here.

US consumers appear to be warming up to the idea of using of chatbots as a customer relationship management (CRM) tool, according to new research from Aspect Software Research.

In its online survey of more than 1,000 18- to 65-year-old US consumers, 44% said that if a company could get the experience right, they would prefer to use a chatbot or automated experience for CRM. That’s up four percentage points from the share of respondents who noted the same response in 2015.   

Chatbots can best be thought of as software programs that use messaging as the interface to carry out various tasks for users. They're generally integrated into messaging apps to capitalize on these apps' vast reach and the conversational interaction they promote. In the context of CRM, chatbots can be used to ask about basic background information such as name, age, account numbers, as well as to ensure customers are directed to the appropriate channels, such as self-service or a human agent. 

The technology could have the potential to help businesses significantly cut labor costs. While complete automation of the customer service workforce is not feasible, automating customer management and sales positions in the US where possible through chatbots and other automation technologies could result in considerable savings. For instance, 29% of customer service positions in the US could be automated through chatbots and other tech, according to Public Tableau. We estimate that this translates to $23 billion in savings from cutting annual salaries, not factoring in additional workforce costs like health insurance. 

Nevertheless, businesses must ensure that the chatbot experience isn’t substandard, lest they risk alienating customers. Moreover, the automation service shouldn't be offered in isolation, but be able to seamlessly be picked up by a human agent, the study found. Eighty-eight percent of respondents expect their chatbot interactions to follow them through their transfer to a live person. 

Advancements in artificial intelligence, coupled with the proliferation of messaging apps, are fueling the development of chatbots — software programs that use messaging as the interface through which to carry out any number of tasks, from scheduling a meeting, to reporting weather, to helping users buy a pair of shoes. 

Foreseeing immense potential, businesses are starting to invest heavily in the burgeoning bot economy. A number of brands and publishers have already deployed bots on messaging and collaboration channels, including HP, 1-800-Flowers, and CNN. While the bot revolution is still in the early phase, many believe 2016 will be the year these conversational interactions take off.

Laurie Beaver, research associate for BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, has compiled a detailed report on chatbots that explores the growing and disruptive bot landscape by investigating what bots are, how businesses are leveraging them, and where they will have the biggest impact.

The report outlines the burgeoning bot ecosystem by segment, looks at companies that offer bot-enabling technology, distribution channels, and some of the key third-party bots already on offer. The report also forecasts the potential annual savings that businesses could realize if chatbots replace some of their customer service and sales reps. Finally, it compares the potential of chatbot monetization on a platform like Facebook Messenger against the iOS App Store and Google Play store.

Here are some of the key takeaways:

• AI has reached a stage in which chatbots can have increasingly engaging and human conversations, allowing businesses to leverage the inexpensive and wide-reaching technology to engage with more consumers.
• Chatbots are particularly well suited for mobile — perhaps more so than apps. Messaging is at the heart of the mobile experience, as the rapid adoption of chat apps demonstrates.
• The chatbot ecosystem is already robust, encompassing many different third-party chat bots, native bots, distribution channels, and enabling technology companies. 
• Chatbots could be lucrative for messaging apps and the developers who build bots for these platforms, similar to how app stores have developed into moneymaking ecosystems.  

In full, the report:

• Breaks down the pros and cons of chatbots.
• Explains the different ways businesses can access, utilize, and distribute content via chatbots.
• Forecasts the potential impact chatbots could have for businesses.
• Looks at the potential barriers that could limit the growth, adoption, and use of chatbots.

To get your copy of this invaluable guide, choose one of these options:

1. Subscribe to an ALL-ACCESS Membership with BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report AND over 100 other expertly researched deep-dive reports, subscriptions to all of our daily newsletters, and much more. >> START A MEMBERSHIP
2. Purchase the report and download it immediately from our research store. >> BUY THE REPORT

The choice is yours. But however you decide to acquire this report, you’ve given yourself a powerful advantage in your understanding of chatbots.

Join the conversation about this story »

This story was delivered to BI Intelligence "E-Commerce Briefing" subscribers. To learn more and subscribe, please click here.

Nordstrom launched its first chatbot on the Facebook Messenger and Kik messaging services to help holiday shoppers find gift items, Geek Wire reports.

The chatbot helps users select gift items by asking them a series of questions about who they are shopping for. It then chooses gifts from Nordstrom’s online store that match their answers.

Users can also type in a request for gift ideas that are forwarded to Nordstrom customer service representatives who respond with customized gift ideas based on the request. The chatbot will available to consumers up until December 24, and was developed in partnership with Snaps, a New York-based startup that helps brands develop their own chatbots.

Messaging services like Facebook Messenger and Kik have grown more popular than social media apps over the last couple of years, according to BI Intelligence estimates. Together, the messaging services give Nordstrom’s chatbot access to more than 1 billion users, providing an easy way for Nordstrom to reach a massive audience with personalized offers based on their gift-buying needs.

Chatbots are an increasingly popular way to quickly complete customer service interactions with businesses. Nearly half (44%) of consumers would prefer to perform a customer service interaction with a chatbot rather than a human representative, according to a recent survey by Aspect Software Research. Chatbots also drastically reduce the cost of handling customer service queries through automation, making them an appealing option for businesses as well as consumers.

Advancements in artificial intelligence, coupled with the proliferation of messaging apps, are fueling the development of chatbots — software programs that use messaging as the interface through which to carry out any number of tasks, from scheduling a meeting, to reporting weather, to helping users buy a pair of shoes. 

Foreseeing immense potential, businesses are starting to invest heavily in the burgeoning bot economy. A number of brands and publishers have already deployed bots on messaging and collaboration channels, including HP, 1-800-Flowers, and CNN. While the bot revolution is still in the early phase, many believe 2016 will be the year these conversational interactions take off.

Laurie Beaver, research associate for BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, has compiled a detailed report on chatbots that explores the growing and disruptive bot landscape by investigating what bots are, how businesses are leveraging them, and where they will have the biggest impact.

The report outlines the burgeoning bot ecosystem by segment, looks at companies that offer bot-enabling technology, distribution channels, and some of the key third-party bots already on offer. The report also forecasts the potential annual savings that businesses could realize if chatbots replace some of their customer service and sales reps. Finally, it compares the potential of chatbot monetization on a platform like Facebook Messenger against the iOS App Store and Google Play store.

Here are some of the key takeaways:

• AI has reached a stage in which chatbots can have increasingly engaging and human conversations, allowing businesses to leverage the inexpensive and wide-reaching technology to engage with more consumers.
• Chatbots are particularly well suited for mobile — perhaps more so than apps. Messaging is at the heart of the mobile experience, as the rapid adoption of chat apps demonstrates.
• The chatbot ecosystem is already robust, encompassing many different third-party chat bots, native bots, distribution channels, and enabling technology companies. 
• Chatbots could be lucrative for messaging apps and the developers who build bots for these platforms, similar to how app stores have developed into moneymaking ecosystems.  

In full, the report:

• Breaks down the pros and cons of chatbots.
• Explains the different ways businesses can access, utilize, and distribute content via chatbots.
• Forecasts the potential impact chatbots could have for businesses.
• Looks at the potential barriers that could limit the growth, adoption, and use of chatbots.

To get your copy of this invaluable guide, choose one of these options:

1. Subscribe to an ALL-ACCESS Membership with BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report AND over 100 other expertly researched deep-dive reports, subscriptions to all of our daily newsletters, and much more. >> START A MEMBERSHIP
2. Purchase the report and download it immediately from our research store. >> BUY THE REPORT

The choice is yours. But however you decide to acquire this report, you’ve given yourself a powerful advantage in your understanding of chatbots.

Join the conversation about this story »

This story was delivered to BI Intelligence Apps and Platforms Briefing subscribers. To learn more and subscribe, please click here.

On Monday, Microsoft announced a new Microsoft Ventures fund dedicated to artificial intelligence (AI) investments, according to TechCrunch.

The fund, part of the company’s investment arm that launched in May, will back startups developing AI technology and includes Element AI, a Montreal-based incubator that helps other companies embrace AI.

The fund further supports Microsoft’s focus on AI. The company has been steadily announcing major initiatives in support of the technology. For example, in September, it announced a major restructuring and formed a new group dedicated to AI products. And in mid-November, it partnered with OpenAI, an AI research nonprofit backed by Elon Musk, to further its AI research and development efforts.   

Investment in AI has ramped up dramatically in the past year, as major tech companies are devoting significant resources to its AI initiatives. AI is a hot-button topic, largely because of a number of emerging technologies being brought to market, including chatbots, virtual assistants, and AI platforms such as IBM Watson. The use of AI programs is set to rise rapidly across nearly every sector of the economy over the next few years.

The global market for AI systems will reach $70 billion in 2020, up from $14.9 billion in 2014, Bank of America Merrill Lynch predicted last year. These AI systems span a broad category of solutions, including digital assistants like Siri and Amazon’s Alexa, machine-learning algorithms that identify objects in images and detect cybercrime, and software that helps self-driving cars and drones avoid obstacles.

Advancements in artificial intelligence, coupled with the proliferation of messaging apps, are fueling the development of chatbots — software programs that use messaging as the interface through which to carry out any number of tasks, from scheduling a meeting, to reporting weather, to helping users buy a pair of shoes. 

Foreseeing immense potential, businesses are starting to invest heavily in the burgeoning bot economy. A number of brands and publishers have already deployed bots on messaging and collaboration channels, including HP, 1-800-Flowers, and CNN. While the bot revolution is still in the early phase, many believe 2016 will be the year these conversational interactions take off.

Laurie Beaver, research associate for BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, has compiled a detailed report on chatbots that explores the growing and disruptive bot landscape by investigating what bots are, how businesses are leveraging them, and where they will have the biggest impact.

The report outlines the burgeoning bot ecosystem by segment, looks at companies that offer bot-enabling technology, distribution channels, and some of the key third-party bots already on offer. The report also forecasts the potential annual savings that businesses could realize if chatbots replace some of their customer service and sales reps. Finally, it compares the potential of chatbot monetization on a platform like Facebook Messenger against the iOS App Store and Google Play store.

Here are some of the key takeaways:

• AI has reached a stage in which chatbots can have increasingly engaging and human conversations, allowing businesses to leverage the inexpensive and wide-reaching technology to engage with more consumers.
• Chatbots are particularly well suited for mobile — perhaps more so than apps. Messaging is at the heart of the mobile experience, as the rapid adoption of chat apps demonstrates.
• The chatbot ecosystem is already robust, encompassing many different third-party chat bots, native bots, distribution channels, and enabling technology companies. 
• Chatbots could be lucrative for messaging apps and the developers who build bots for these platforms, similar to how app stores have developed into moneymaking ecosystems.  

In full, the report:

• Breaks down the pros and cons of chatbots.
• Explains the different ways businesses can access, utilize, and distribute content via chatbots.
• Forecasts the potential impact chatbots could have for businesses.
• Looks at the potential barriers that could limit the growth, adoption, and use of chatbots.

To get your copy of this invaluable guide, choose one of these options:

1. Subscribe to an ALL-ACCESS Membership with BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report AND over 100 other expertly researched deep-dive reports, subscriptions to all of our daily newsletters, and much more. >> START A MEMBERSHIP
2. Purchase the report and download it immediately from our research store. >> BUY THE REPORT

The choice is yours. But however you decide to acquire this report, you’ve given yourself a powerful advantage in your understanding of chatbots.

Join the conversation about this story »

This story was delivered to BI Intelligence Apps and Platforms Briefing subscribers. To learn more and subscribe, please click here.

Businesses are beginning to see the benefits of using chatbots for their consumer-facing products, according to a survey by Oracle.

The survey included responses from 800 decision makers including chief marketing officers, chief strategy officers, senior marketers, and senior sales executives from France, the Netherlands, South Africa, and the UK.

When asked which emerging technologies they are already using and which they intended to implement, 80% of respondents said they already used or planned to use chatbots by 2020. Chatbots are interactive software platforms that reside in apps, live chat, email, and SMS and can behave in a human-like manner. 

Additionally, the survey shows that business leaders and decision makers are turning to the broader umbrella of automation technologies, which includes chatbots, for things like sales, marketing, and customer service. Forty-two percent of participants believe automation technologies in these areas will most improve the customer experience. And 48% said that they already use automation technology for these business functions, with 40% planning to implement some form of automated technology by 2020.

This makes sense given the impact automation technology could have on cutting labor costs. Although complete automation of the customer service workforce is not feasible, automating customer management and sales positions in the US would result in considerable savings. Twenty-nine percent of customer service positions in the US could be automated through chatbots and other tech, according to Public Tableau. We estimate this translates to $23 billion in savings from annual salaries, which does not even factor in additional workforce costs like health insurance.

Advancements in artificial intelligence, coupled with the proliferation of messaging apps, are fueling the development of chatbots — software programs that use messaging as the interface through which to carry out any number of tasks, from scheduling a meeting, to reporting weather, to helping users buy a pair of shoes. 

Foreseeing immense potential, businesses are starting to invest heavily in the burgeoning bot economy. A number of brands and publishers have already deployed bots on messaging and collaboration channels, including HP, 1-800-Flowers, and CNN. While the bot revolution is still in the early phase, many believe 2016 will be the year these conversational interactions take off.

Laurie Beaver, research associate for BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, has compiled a detailed report on chatbots that explores the growing and disruptive bot landscape by investigating what bots are, how businesses are leveraging them, and where they will have the biggest impact.

The report outlines the burgeoning bot ecosystem by segment, looks at companies that offer bot-enabling technology, distribution channels, and some of the key third-party bots already on offer. The report also forecasts the potential annual savings that businesses could realize if chatbots replace some of their customer service and sales reps. Finally, it compares the potential of chatbot monetization on a platform like Facebook Messenger against the iOS App Store and Google Play store.

Here are some of the key takeaways:

• AI has reached a stage in which chatbots can have increasingly engaging and human conversations, allowing businesses to leverage the inexpensive and wide-reaching technology to engage with more consumers.
• Chatbots are particularly well suited for mobile — perhaps more so than apps. Messaging is at the heart of the mobile experience, as the rapid adoption of chat apps demonstrates.
• The chatbot ecosystem is already robust, encompassing many different third-party chat bots, native bots, distribution channels, and enabling technology companies. 
• Chatbots could be lucrative for messaging apps and the developers who build bots for these platforms, similar to how app stores have developed into moneymaking ecosystems.  

In full, the report:

• Breaks down the pros and cons of chatbots.
• Explains the different ways businesses can access, utilize, and distribute content via chatbots.
• Forecasts the potential impact chatbots could have for businesses.
• Looks at the potential barriers that could limit the growth, adoption, and use of chatbots.

To get your copy of this invaluable guide, choose one of these options:

1. Subscribe to an ALL-ACCESS Membership with BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report AND over 100 other expertly researched deep-dive reports, subscriptions to all of our daily newsletters, and much more. >> START A MEMBERSHIP
2. Purchase the report and download it immediately from our research store. >> BUY THE REPORT

The choice is yours. But however you decide to acquire this report, you’ve given yourself a powerful advantage in your understanding of chatbots.

Join the conversation about this story »

This story was delivered to BI Intelligence "Payments Briefing" subscribers. To learn more and subscribe, please click here.

American Express introduced an “Add a Card” feature to its Amex Bot in Facebook Messenger, which will enable eligible US consumers to make purchases on the social media website.

These card members will be able to effortlessly make purchases in games and on shop sections of business pages and participate in Messenger commerce experiences. This added feature will help bolster Amex’s chatbot offerings, which already includes giving users notifications about balances, benefits, and recent purchases. 

The bot will keep Amex engaged with its consumers at their convenience. 

• Using a chatbot is aiding Amex in engaging customers. Amex can leverage its chatbot to bring engaging, interactive opportunities directly to where consumers already spend much of their time, rather than pushing those consumers to seek out an additional app — messaging apps are used nine times a day on average, significantly more then the average app, which is used twice daily, according to a study by Flurry Analytics.
• Amex is boosting its digital presence while reducing costs. Not only is deploying a chatbot often cheaper than building an app or employing customer service representatives, but it is also an opportunity to push custom offerings to consumers. Amex is already doing this by pushing recommendations and loyalty program information to users based on their purchase history. 

Amex has created an added revenue source by leveraging chatbot technology and Messenger. There are thousands of merchants on Messenger gaining consumers on the social media app, and capturing a share of these transactions could prove to be a major opportunity for the credit card issuer.

That's especially true as it continues to push offerings to overcome any potential loses from the sale of its Costco cobrand portfolio to Citigroup earlier this year — Costco had 11.6 million cardholders and accounted for 8% of the firm's $1 trillion global billed business in 2015. It's likely the credit card issuer will continue to push these types of digital initiatives as consumers are increasingly moving to technology to stay informed and make payments. 

Advancements in artificial intelligence, coupled with the proliferation of messaging apps, are fueling the development of chatbots — software programs that use messaging as the interface through which to carry out any number of tasks, from scheduling a meeting, to reporting weather, to helping users buy a pair of shoes. 

Foreseeing immense potential, businesses are starting to invest heavily in the burgeoning bot economy. A number of brands and publishers have already deployed bots on messaging and collaboration channels, including HP, 1-800-Flowers, and CNN. While the bot revolution is still in the early phase, many believe 2016 will be the year these conversational interactions take off.

Laurie Beaver, research associate for BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, has compiled a detailed report on chatbots that explores the growing and disruptive bot landscape by investigating what bots are, how businesses are leveraging them, and where they will have the biggest impact.

The report outlines the burgeoning bot ecosystem by segment, looks at companies that offer bot-enabling technology, distribution channels, and some of the key third-party bots already on offer. The report also forecasts the potential annual savings that businesses could realize if chatbots replace some of their customer service and sales reps. Finally, it compares the potential of chatbot monetization on a platform like Facebook Messenger against the iOS App Store and Google Play store.

Here are some of the key takeaways:

• AI has reached a stage in which chatbots can have increasingly engaging and human conversations, allowing businesses to leverage the inexpensive and wide-reaching technology to engage with more consumers.
• Chatbots are particularly well suited for mobile — perhaps more so than apps. Messaging is at the heart of the mobile experience, as the rapid adoption of chat apps demonstrates.
• The chatbot ecosystem is already robust, encompassing many different third-party chat bots, native bots, distribution channels, and enabling technology companies. 
• Chatbots could be lucrative for messaging apps and the developers who build bots for these platforms, similar to how app stores have developed into moneymaking ecosystems.  

In full, the report:

• Breaks down the pros and cons of chatbots.
• Explains the different ways businesses can access, utilize, and distribute content via chatbots.
• Forecasts the potential impact chatbots could have for businesses.
• Looks at the potential barriers that could limit the growth, adoption, and use of chatbots.

To get your copy of this invaluable guide, choose one of these options:

1. Subscribe to an ALL-ACCESS Membership with BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report AND over 100 other expertly researched deep-dive reports, subscriptions to all of our daily newsletters, and much more. >> START A MEMBERSHIP
2. Purchase the report and download it immediately from our research store. >> BUY THE REPORT

The choice is yours. But however you decide to acquire this report, you’ve given yourself a powerful advantage in your understanding of chatbots.

Join the conversation about this story »

Advancements in artificial intelligence, coupled with the proliferation of messaging apps, are fueling the development of chatbots — software programs that use messaging as the interface through which to carry out any number of tasks, from scheduling a meeting, to reporting weather, to helping users buy a pair of shoes. 

Foreseeing immense potential, businesses are starting to invest heavily in the burgeoning bot economy. A number of brands and publishers have already deployed bots on messaging and collaboration channels, including HP, 1-800-Flowers, and CNN. And dozens of messaging apps have already integrated virtual assistants into their platforms.

The bot revolution is still in the early phase, but the interest is clearly growing among consumers and businesses alike.

For the past seven years, IGNITION, Business Insider’s flagship conference, has collected the best minds in media and technology to share what they see as the future. Through unscripted interviews, cutting-edge demos, and insights from industry pioneers, attendees learn what key trends to be aware of and what they need to do to stay ahead.

At this year's IGNITION, Barbara Peng, VP of research for BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, presented Conversational Commerce: More Than Chit Chat, which contains detailed insights on the chatbots market.

To get your copy of this slide deck, simply click here.

Join the conversation about this story »

Improving artificial intelligence (AI) technology and the proliferation of messaging apps — which enable users and businesses to interact through a variety of mediums, including text, voice, image, video, and file sharing — are fueling the popularity of chatbots.

These software programs use messaging as an interface through which to carry out various tasks, like checking the weather or scheduling a meeting. Bots are still nascent and monetization models have yet to be established for the tech, but there are a number of existing strategies — like "as-a-service" or affiliate marketing — that will likely prove successful for bots used as a tool within messaging apps.

Chatbots can also provide brands with value adds — services that don't directly generate revenue, but help increase the ability of brands and businesses to better target and serve customers, and increase productivity. These include bots used for research, lead generation, and customer service.

A new report from BI Intelligence investigates how brands can monetize their chatbots by tailoring existing models. It also explores various ways chatbots can be used to cut businesses' operational costs. And finally, it highlights the slew of barriers that brands need to overcome in order to tap into the potentially lucrative market. 

Here are some of the key takeaways: 

• Chatbot adoption has already taken off in the US with more than half of US users between the ages of 18 and 55 having used them, according to exclusive BI Intelligence survey data.
• Chatbots boast a number of distinct features that make them a perfect vehicle for brands to reach consumers. These include a global presence, high retention rates, and an ability to appeal to a younger demographic.
• Businesses and brands are looking to capitalize on the potential to monetize the software. BI Intelligence identifies four existing models that can be successfully tailored for chatbots. These models include Bots-as-a-Service, native content, affiliate marketing, and retail sales.
• Chatbots can also provide brands with value adds, or services that don't directly generate revenue. Bots used for research, lead generation, and customer service can cut down on companies' operational costs.
• There are several benchmarks chatbots must reach, and barriers they must overcome, before becoming successful revenue generators. 

In full, the report:

• Explains the different ways businesses can access, utilize, and distribute content via chatbots.
• Breaks down the pros and cons of each chatbot monetization model.
• Identifies the additional value chatbots can provide businesses outside of direct monetization.
• Looks at the potential barriers that could limit the growth, adoption, and use of chatbots and therefore their earning potential.

Interested in getting the full report? Here are several ways to access it:

1. Subscribe to an All-Access pass to BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report and over 100 other expertly researched reports. As an added bonus, you'll also gain access to all future reports and daily newsletters to ensure you stay ahead of the curve and benefit personally and professionally. >>Learn More Now
2. Purchase & download the full report from our research store. >> Purchase & Download Now

Join the conversation about this story »

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's personal project for 2016 has been to build an artificially intelligent, voice-controlled assistant for his home.

Now that he's finished the first version of his own "Iron Man"-inspired Jarvis, he's considering giving away the code he created.

In a lengthy Facebook post on Monday, Zuckerberg described how he went about creating his digital butler for his home in San Francisco. He spent a total of 100 hours building the assistant, which can control his lights and music and even make toast with a retrofitted toaster from the 1950s.

"In some ways, this challenge was easier than I expected," Zuckerberg wrote. "In fact, my running challenge (I also set out to run 365 miles in 2016) took more total time. But one aspect that was much more complicated than I expected was simply connecting and communicating with all of the different systems in my home."

Here are the main things Zuckerberg's personal assistant can do:

SEE ALSO: Mark Zuckerberg: Facebook will 'proceed carefully' with fighting fake news and won't block 'opinions'

Control his main appliances, including his lights and toaster

"It's possible to control some of these using internet-connected power switches that let you turn the power on and off remotely," he wrote. "But often that isn't enough. For example, one thing I learned is it's hard to find a toaster that will let you push the bread down while it's powered off so you can automatically start toasting when the power goes on. I ended up finding an old toaster from the 1950s and rigging it up with a connected switch. "

Play music based on his or his wife's preferences, depending on who asks

Since Zuckerberg trained his assistant to recognize both his voice and the voice of Priscilla Chan, his wife, it will play different music tailored to whoever asks. If the mood is off, they can say general statements like "That's not light — play something light," and the assistant will correct itself.

"In general, I've found we use these more open-ended requests more frequently than more specific asks," Zuckerberg wrote. "No commercial products I know of do this today, and this seems like a big opportunity."

Scan the faces of his visitors and let them in through the front door

Zuckerberg used Facebook's facial-recognition technology to scan the faces of his visitors from cameras positioned at his front door.

"I built a simple server that continuously watches the cameras and runs a two-step process," he wrote. "First, it runs face detection to see if any person has come into view, and second, if it finds a face, then it runs face recognition to identify who the person is. Once it identifies the person, it checks a list to confirm I'm expecting that person, and if I am then it will let them in and tell me they're here."

The artificially intelligent virtual assistant that Mark Zuckerberg built for his home is voiced by none other than Morgan Freeman.

Zuckerberg posted a humorous video to his Facebook page on Tuesday that shows his personal assistant in action, from waking him up in the morning to teaching his daughter how to speak Mandarin.

The video comes just a day after Zuckerberg published a lengthy post detailing how he built his own AI assistant from scratch. He named it "Jarvis" as a nod to Iron Man, which led the actor Robert Downey Jr. (who plays Iron Man) to offer to be its voice.

It looks like Zuckerberg went with Morgan Freeman's voice instead, which is also pretty fitting.

You can watch Zuckerberg's full video below:

And here's a second video from the perspective of Zuckerberg's wife, Priscilla Chan:

SEE ALSO: Mark Zuckerberg is considering giving away the personal virtual assistant it took him 100 hours to build - here's how it works

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: A Facebook bug was telling people they died

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Last week, workplace collaboration tool Slack announced that it invested in 11 new bot startups to build out its portfolio of bots, VentureBeat reports.

This is the third round of investments Slack has made since it first launched the $80 million Slack Fund in December 2015. The latest round brings the total of bot startups the company has funded up to 25. 

The investment comes as Slack braces against increased rivalry from entrenched tech companies like Microsoft, which launched Teams in November, and Facebook's Workplace, launched in October. Slack's early entrance into the collaboration space gave the company an advantage, however, these newer companies have the advantage of being better known and already entrenched in users' lives in one way or another. 

Adding a slew of new bots to its service could reinvigorate engagement with the collaboration tool, which began showing signs of growth deceleration.

Slack's simplistic and intuitive chat-based interface, which supports seamless company-wide communication, was largely behind its initial rapid growth. But it also enables employee procrastination and low-value socializing, which could drive away businesses, according to TechCrunch. Other companies, like Dropbox, similarly approached the enterprise in a more casual way before realizing that this strategy wasn't a hit with conservative businesses.

Advancements in artificial intelligence, coupled with the proliferation of messaging apps, are fueling the development of chatbots — software programs that use messaging as the interface through which to carry out any number of tasks, from scheduling a meeting, to reporting weather, to helping users buy a pair of shoes. 

Foreseeing immense potential, businesses are starting to invest heavily in the burgeoning bot economy. A number of brands and publishers have already deployed bots on messaging and collaboration channels, including HP, 1-800-Flowers, and CNN. While the bot revolution is still in the early phase, many believe 2016 will be the year these conversational interactions take off.

Laurie Beaver, research associate for BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, has compiled a detailed report on chatbots that explores the growing and disruptive bot landscape by investigating what bots are, how businesses are leveraging them, and where they will have the biggest impact.

The report outlines the burgeoning bot ecosystem by segment, looks at companies that offer bot-enabling technology, distribution channels, and some of the key third-party bots already on offer. The report also forecasts the potential annual savings that businesses could realize if chatbots replace some of their customer service and sales reps. Finally, it compares the potential of chatbot monetization on a platform like Facebook Messenger against the iOS App Store and Google Play store.

Here are some of the key takeaways:

• AI has reached a stage in which chatbots can have increasingly engaging and human conversations, allowing businesses to leverage the inexpensive and wide-reaching technology to engage with more consumers.
• Chatbots are particularly well suited for mobile — perhaps more so than apps. Messaging is at the heart of the mobile experience, as the rapid adoption of chat apps demonstrates.
• The chatbot ecosystem is already robust, encompassing many different third-party chat bots, native bots, distribution channels, and enabling technology companies. 
• Chatbots could be lucrative for messaging apps and the developers who build bots for these platforms, similar to how app stores have developed into moneymaking ecosystems.  

In full, the report:

• Breaks down the pros and cons of chatbots.
• Explains the different ways businesses can access, utilize, and distribute content via chatbots.
• Forecasts the potential impact chatbots could have for businesses.
• Looks at the potential barriers that could limit the growth, adoption, and use of chatbots.

To get your copy of this invaluable guide, choose one of these options:

1. Subscribe to an ALL-ACCESS Membership with BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report AND over 100 other expertly researched deep-dive reports, subscriptions to all of our daily newsletters, and much more. >> START A MEMBERSHIP
2. Purchase the report and download it immediately from our research store. >> BUY THE REPORT

The choice is yours. But however you decide to acquire this report, you’ve given yourself a powerful advantage in your understanding of chatbots.

Join the conversation about this story »

This story was delivered to BI Intelligence "Fintech Briefing" subscribers. To learn more and subscribe, please click here.

The proliferation of chatbots in financial services sustained momentum this week with savings chatbot Digit's announcement that it will launch on Facebook's Messenger platform, Bloomberg reports.

Digit exited its pilot stage in February 2015.

Over the past two years, Digit users have saved around $350 million through the app, which has to date operated via SMS and mobile. The San Francisco-based fintech says launching on Messenger will allow its users to communicate with the company via a channel they already frequently use for social interactions.

Digit wants to make saving easier and more conversational. Its algorithm already assesses a user's income and spending patterns to siphon a small and safe amount from the user's checking account into a savings account every few days, money which can later be used to meet short-term cash needs such as paying bills and paying for holidays. Now, Digit is working on a new product, an AI-powered "financial goal program." Here, users would set an amount and a date, after which the algorithm would make recommendations on how to meet the savings goal within that time frame, or alternatively, point out that the goal isn't realistic.

Digit CEO Ethan Bloch said that all the company's efforts will be ultimately geared toward making its interface more conversational, in order to "humanize" it to make users feel more in control of the savings process. Conversational ability would be easier to achieve via Messenger than SMS, as users are sending three times as many messages via platforms like Messenger and WhatsApp globally than they did via SMS when the medium was most popular. 

However, Digit should be aware that conversational ability may be not be what customers truly want when it comes to finance chatbots. Giving a chatbot soft skills might make it seem more sophisticated and futuristic, but this anthropomorphism might not actually appeal to consumers. Research by Mindshare found that 60% of 1,000 respondents agreed that "it would feel patronizing if a chatbot started asking me how my day is going," and 48% agreed that "it feels creepy if the chatbot is pretending to be human." This and other studies strongly indicate that consumers value efficiency, rather than conversational ability, in finance chatbots. Both incumbent financial firms and startups should bear in mind the discrepancy between the image of chatbots in the public imagination and consumers' actual needs.

Advancements in artificial intelligence, coupled with the proliferation of messaging apps, are fueling the development of chatbots — software programs that use messaging as the interface through which to carry out any number of tasks, from scheduling a meeting, to reporting weather, to helping users buy a pair of shoes. 

Foreseeing immense potential, businesses are starting to invest heavily in the burgeoning bot economy. A number of brands and publishers have already deployed bots on messaging and collaboration channels, including HP, 1-800-Flowers, and CNN. While the bot revolution is still in the early phase, many believe 2016 will be the year these conversational interactions take off.

Laurie Beaver, research associate for BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, has compiled a detailed report on chatbots that explores the growing and disruptive bot landscape by investigating what bots are, how businesses are leveraging them, and where they will have the biggest impact.

The report outlines the burgeoning bot ecosystem by segment, looks at companies that offer bot-enabling technology, distribution channels, and some of the key third-party bots already on offer. The report also forecasts the potential annual savings that businesses could realize if chatbots replace some of their customer service and sales reps. Finally, it compares the potential of chatbot monetization on a platform like Facebook Messenger against the iOS App Store and Google Play store.

Here are some of the key takeaways:

• AI has reached a stage in which chatbots can have increasingly engaging and human conversations, allowing businesses to leverage the inexpensive and wide-reaching technology to engage with more consumers.
• Chatbots are particularly well suited for mobile — perhaps more so than apps. Messaging is at the heart of the mobile experience, as the rapid adoption of chat apps demonstrates.
• The chatbot ecosystem is already robust, encompassing many different third-party chat bots, native bots, distribution channels, and enabling technology companies. 
• Chatbots could be lucrative for messaging apps and the developers who build bots for these platforms, similar to how app stores have developed into moneymaking ecosystems.  

In full, the report:

• Breaks down the pros and cons of chatbots.
• Explains the different ways businesses can access, utilize, and distribute content via chatbots.
• Forecasts the potential impact chatbots could have for businesses.
• Looks at the potential barriers that could limit the growth, adoption, and use of chatbots.

To get your copy of this invaluable guide, choose one of these options:

1. Subscribe to an ALL-ACCESS Membership with BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report AND over 100 other expertly researched deep-dive reports, subscriptions to all of our daily newsletters, and much more. >> START A MEMBERSHIP
2. Purchase the report and download it immediately from our research store. >> BUY THE REPORT

The choice is yours. But however you decide to acquire this report, you’ve given yourself a powerful advantage in your understanding of chatbots.

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Difficult market conditions and competition from digital savvy entrants have been challenging traditional banks. But a solution is emerging that will enable these legacy players to innovate at relatively modest costs: chatbots.

Chatbots are software programs that primarily use business-to-consumer (B2C) text-based messaging as the interface through which to carry out any number of tasks. They appeal to banks because they require less coding and are therefore cheaper than banking apps; they also automate currently manual back-end tasks, saving them money on salaries and allowing some operations to run 24/7. 

In a new report from BI Intelligence, we look at the drivers behind the proliferation of chatbots among incumbent banks, current chatbot use cases and their growing variety, and the strategic, consumer, and technological risks still attached to chatbots.

Here are some of the key takeaways:

• Incumbent banks today are facing increasing pressure to remain competitive. The pressure is coming mostly from tech-savvy entrants that lure in consumers with user-friendly, cheaper products. 
• To remain competitive, these legacy players must innovate digitally, and chatbots let them do so on a budget. Either a third-party provider can build a chatbot for them to roll out on a popular messaging app, or they can develop a chatbot in-house.
• Chatbots still have risks attached to them, but they are outweighed by their benefits. If technological, strategic, and consumer risks aren't properly navigated, a chatbot can damage a bank's valuable reputation. However, a well-executed chatbot can deliver huge savings.
• A successful chatbot has to be able to perform a task more efficiently than can be done manually. As such, banks should develop chatbots that effectively automate basic and time-consuming tasks. This will free up human staffers' time for more complex inquiries, thus improving customer relations and loyalty. 

 In full, the report:

• Explains the factors driving chatbot proliferation generally and among legacy banks in particular.
• Looks at the developments in the technology underlying chatbots.
• Provides an overview of current legacy players' chatbot use cases.
• Examines the risks still attached to chatbots and how to navigate them.

Interested in getting the full report? Here are two ways to access it:

1. Subscribe to an All-Access pass to BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report and over 100 other expertly researched reports. As an added bonus, you'll also gain access to all future reports and daily newsletters to ensure you stay ahead of the curve and benefit personally and professionally. >>Learn More Now
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SoundHound, a startup that released its first voice assistant in March 2016, has raised $75 million in new funding, according to a Tuesdayannouncement.

The company’s AI platform, called Houndify, was built on top of 10 years of research and development (R&D) and powers SoundHoud's voice assistant app Hound.

SoundHound plans to use this round of financing to make headway with its “collective AI” strategy, which enables developers using the Houndify platform to easily leverage information from third-party companies in order to improve their implementations of Houndify. Yelp, Uber, and Expedia are three of the platforms that Houndify draws data from, in addition to more than 100 domains spanning a range of topics including weather, mortgages, and interactive games.

Access to these robust and diverse data sets will ultimately help SoundHound achieve its goal of enabling voice assistants to understand contextual conversations in a timely manner — a feat that every voice assistant on the market struggles with to some degree.

Should SoundHound succeed in its goal of providing a truly natural and conversational voice assistant platform it could drastically increase the share of activities consumers conduct via voice assistants. While a majority of consumers are aware of voice assistants, relatively few of them regularly employ them; Just 33% of consumers aged 14-17 regularly used voice assistants in 2016 according to an Accenture Report.

That share stood at 23% for consumers aged 18-34, and 14% for those aged 35-55. This sluggish uptake is partially due to poor voice interfaces, with OS-powered voice assistants like Apple's Siri lacking the power to be really useful when interacting solely via voice, and speaker-powered voice assistants like Amazon's Alexa relying on a list of programmed commands called Skills that can be difficult for consumers to memorize or keep track of. 

A conversational interface, such as the one SoundHound is attempting to develop, would preclude users from having to memorize an ever-growing list of commands for Alexa and provide a more powerful assistant than what's offered by Siri. 

Advancements in artificial intelligence, coupled with the proliferation of messaging apps, are fueling the development of chatbots — software programs that use messaging as the interface through which to carry out any number of tasks, from scheduling a meeting, to reporting weather, to helping users buy a pair of shoes. 

Foreseeing immense potential, businesses are starting to invest heavily in the burgeoning bot economy. A number of brands and publishers have already deployed bots on messaging and collaboration channels, including HP, 1-800-Flowers, and CNN. While the bot revolution is still in the early phase, many believe 2016 will be the year these conversational interactions take off.

Laurie Beaver, research associate for BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, has compiled a detailed report on chatbots that explores the growing and disruptive bot landscape by investigating what bots are, how businesses are leveraging them, and where they will have the biggest impact.

The report outlines the burgeoning bot ecosystem by segment, looks at companies that offer bot-enabling technology, distribution channels, and some of the key third-party bots already on offer. The report also forecasts the potential annual savings that businesses could realize if chatbots replace some of their customer service and sales reps. Finally, it compares the potential of chatbot monetization on a platform like Facebook Messenger against the iOS App Store and Google Play store.

Here are some of the key takeaways:

• AI has reached a stage in which chatbots can have increasingly engaging and human conversations, allowing businesses to leverage the inexpensive and wide-reaching technology to engage with more consumers.
• Chatbots are particularly well suited for mobile — perhaps more so than apps. Messaging is at the heart of the mobile experience, as the rapid adoption of chat apps demonstrates.
• The chatbot ecosystem is already robust, encompassing many different third-party chat bots, native bots, distribution channels, and enabling technology companies. 
• Chatbots could be lucrative for messaging apps and the developers who build bots for these platforms, similar to how app stores have developed into moneymaking ecosystems.  

In full, the report:

• Breaks down the pros and cons of chatbots.
• Explains the different ways businesses can access, utilize, and distribute content via chatbots.
• Forecasts the potential impact chatbots could have for businesses.
• Looks at the potential barriers that could limit the growth, adoption, and use of chatbots.

To get your copy of this invaluable guide, choose one of these options:

1. Subscribe to an ALL-ACCESS Membership with BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report AND over 100 other expertly researched deep-dive reports, subscriptions to all of our daily newsletters, and much more. >> START A MEMBERSHIP
2. Purchase the report and download it immediately from our research store. >> BUY THE REPORT

The choice is yours. But however you decide to acquire this report, you’ve given yourself a powerful advantage in your understanding of chatbots.

Join the conversation about this story »