These are some of the important things to understand as we wrap our brains around what this is and how to navigate it in the classroom. I'll do plenty of my own human thinking and reasoning, but for the purposes of information, I'm going to let ChatGPT give us working definitions to use: I am an artificial intelligence assistant trained by OpenAI to help answer questions and provide information on a wide variety of topics. I am not a physical being, but rather a program that is designed to process and generate text based on the input I receive. My primary function is to assist users like you by providing information and answering questions to the best of my ability. I have been designed to have a conversational style and can understand and respond to natural language input.

For many years, e-learning designers have relied on chatbots -- those handy little digital "helpers" that pop up to answer questions or provide additional information. With the introduction of faster internet connections (5G and beyond) and better development tools, chatbots are no longer just digitized voices behind animated avatars. Chatbots are rules-driven services, sometimes powered by artificial intelligence (AI), that help individuals communicate in an online environment. In an e-learning context, AI-powered chatbots make learning more intuitive by helping learners choose, consume and understand content. Rather than clicking buttons, selecting drop-down menu items or tapping on a screen, with chatbots, learners can navigate content through gestures and conversational interactions.

Chatbots enabled by artificial intelligence that can imitate human conversation are becoming commonplace tools. Google Duplex might be a big thing from the technology viewpoint but it is not yet ready for everyday use. Automation of services started with RPA (Robotic Process Automation), then for customer service, we started seeing chatbots on every website, and now with AI tool integration new generation chatbots are able to perform complex tasks as well. When it comes to the relationship between RPA, chatbot and artificial intelligence there is some widespread sense that all chatbots and automation tools are AI enabled. That might be because some startups are using the hype of artificial intelligence to sell their chatbots and automation tools, and no doubt there are many tricksters in the market.

Put simply, you can ask a bot to do things for you – quickly, efficiently and without having to wait for a human to respond. Bots depend on artificial intelligence. And it's our increasing skill and development in AI that is driving the bot revolution. It is hoped that once the technology develops further, bots will be able to many more complicated tasks - from completing your taxes to monitoring your working and living habits. Put this together with other developments such as the IoT (internet of things) and wearable technology, the possibilities seem endless.

The process of job hunting can be arduous. While some sought-after job vacancies are never usually posted on the internet, the ones that are displayed can get lost between company websites, job boards and professional social media avenues. Moreover, sifting through multiple job postings is a cumbersome practice and finding the right position that fits one's passions, experience and goals can be a herculean task for many. The future of job hunting will rely heavily on artificial intelligence (AI), which can simplify the process in more ways than one. While industry strategies may differ, experts in the recruiting field agree that AI can help streamline the connection between employers and candidates. With the vast amounts of data collected on skill-sets, job titles and salaries, AI can help job boards like LinkedIn make accurate predictions on hiring competition and compensation.

Chatbots, computer programs that typically use text-based live chat as an interface to carry out tasks for customers on behalf of the business, are emerging as an inexpensive way to introduce artificial intelligence (AI) in banking. New digitally savvy companies have found success attracting consumers with user-friendly offerings, while legacy banks are finding it difficult to invest in and adopt innovative products. To remain competitive, these large banks will have to adapt their traditional services by incorporating more robotics in banking that will attract more tech-savvy customers. Chatbots in banking are a digital solution that is relatively inexpensive to develop and maintain. For starters, chatbots require less coding than standalone banking apps.

As artificial intelligence changes the financial services industry, should advisors feel threatened? They see the current wave of technology as an opportunity to provide better service. Much has been made of the research that finds automation will steal work from millions of Canadians, including a University of Toronto study from last year. But it's hard even for experts in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) to see wealth managers entirely replaced by chatbots, or apps for financial planning and investment. Still those involved in the rapidly changing discipline of computer science say the financial industry is fertile ground for increasingly intelligent automation.

We don't understand AI because we don't understand intelligence

Starting in the 1980s, technology companies like Apple, Microsoft, and many others presented computer users with the graphical user interface as a means to make technology more user-friendly. The average consumer wasn't going to learn binary code to use a computer, so the great minds at these leading technology companies slapped a screen on technology and offered an interface that provided icons, buttons, toolbars, and other graphical elements so that the computer could be easily consumed by a mass market. Today it's hard to even imagine technological devices without a screen and a graphical presentation -- until now. Early in 2016, we saw the introduction of the first wave of artificial intelligence technology in the form of chatbots. Social media platforms like Facebook allowed developers to create a chatbot for their brand or service so that consumers could carry out some of their daily actions from within their messaging platform.

Very soon – by the end of the year, probably – you won't need to be on Facebook in order to talk to your friends on Facebook. Your Facebook avatar will dutifully wish people happy birthday, congratulate them on the new job, accept invitations, and send them jolly texts punctuated by your favourite emojis – all while you're asleep, or shopping, or undergoing major surgery. At an event called the TechCrunch Disrupt Hackathon held last weekend in New York, software developer Irene Chang unveiled a prototype artificial intelligence (AI) program called The Chat Bot Club, designed to take over all your Facebook Messenger communications when you can't be arsed dealing with them yourself. Chang's proof-of-concept is much more than a simple automated response system. Using IBM's powerful Watson natural language processing platform, The Chat Bot Club learns to imitate its user.