Chatbots Are Dead. Cloud Unicorn Intercom Is Betting AI Can Bring Them Back.

In the fall of 2016 – before startups started adding artificial intelligence to every pitch, and before Bitcoin triggered a speculative frenzy and inspired a host of cryptocurrency entrepreneurs – chatbots were supposed to be the next big thing. Facebook had just announced Messenger, its chat platform that was supposed to transform how we worked and shopped. Need to make a dinner reservation? There'd be a chatbot for that, too. Google's M challenger came and quietly went.