Killer bots

To look at the stats you wouldn't think so: Apple has two million of them in its App Store and Google Play has a few hundred thousand more than that. Total app downloads have passed the 150 billion mark. But some are wondering whether apps are about to be replaced by something smaller, smarter and faster. These programs, thanks to AI [artificial intelligence] software in the cloud, can chat to humans via text, extract the meaning and then act on it. Any time you see a live chat box open up on a retailer's website, or order a taxi or flowers through chat platforms such as WeChat and Facebook Messenger, you're most likely talking to a bot.