We don't know how to build conversational software yet -- Lastmile Conversations

Despite the hype, there is a lot of work to be done before we can build conversational software. These are some notes about what interesting conversational software would look like, and what techniques we'll need to build it. It may be obvious, but I feel we have to point out that the giddy excitement around bots stems from being happy that there is something new to build/invest in/write medium posts about, and not from exciting new technology. For VCs, new platforms mean new opportunities to bundle and unbundle services, and new battlegrounds for the big players (likely leading to acquisitions). So even without real technological breakthroughs, there is at least some money to be made investing in bot startups.