What's really happening right now with chatbots

One night in Corvallis, with the Oregon State basketball team heading to its 14th straight loss of its season, the talk around the hotel bar moved from the television screen to a far different form of communication -- chatbots. No one used that word, of course. But the technology took front and center in a conversation about Alexa, the voice-activated digital assistant from Amazon that can do everything from play music to order groceries. Give Amazon credit: it's pushed hard to win the hearts and minds of U.S. consumers, teeing up more than 100 mini ads for just that purpose. Software that can respond to voice or text commands is a high-growth investment sector about to explode in scope and penetration worldwide. Look no further than the announcement by Mark Zuckerberg last year that Facebook Messenger will be opened to bot development.