Square's new Assistant is an AI bot that aims to do one thing well

For that reason, Square is now letting business owners automate the rescheduling process with a chatbot called Square Assistant. Business owners that are using Square's existing Appointments service can now confirm appointments with customers--or let them cancel or reschedule them--via text message, without any human involvement. It's the first product to come from Square's acquisition of conversational AI startup Eloquent Labs earlier this year. "For some of our customers, SMS is just a more efficient way to interact," says Ellen Blaine, a former Eloquent Labs engineer who is now a product manager at Square. "With Square Assistant, you can reschedule or confirm an appointment just by texting a couple of words."