The State of Chatbots 2017 -- Part 3

In the previous two posts, we looked at why chatbots are hot with investors and businesses, and what they actually do today. But what excites most of these people, whether they're looking to get rich or just want more mechanical friends, is the potential for chatbots to become much, much smarter and more personal. Not only our equals, but in some ways our betters. After an overhyped launch of Facebook's Messenger platform with support for chatbots (or in USA Today, "chat bots") a year ago, it's become obvious that conversational software isn't going to be up to speed selling strollers and VR headsets online as quickly as many had hoped. Even Facebook is said to be dialing back its expectations -- a report in The Information claims that in tests, the AI behind Facebook's chatbot platform failed to fulfill 70 percent of requests without human intercession.