Sign up for the Slatest to get the most insightful analysis, criticism, and advice out there, delivered to your inbox daily. In our eighth grade classroom, her name was Hanna. On AOL Instant Messenger, she was Banana3017. I was in love with both. At school, she was funny, and kind, and she had blue eyes that made my cheeks glow the same fiery color as her hair when she looked at me.

If you're a millennial, chances are you remember AIM's SmarterChild, an "intelligent" chatbot that simulated human conversation. Nowadays, ChatGPT's AI-infused chatbot is all the rage, providing smarter and more eloquent answers to just about any question you may have. As someone who bothered the heck out of SmarterChild as a kid, I was nostalgic for a similar experience, so I gave ChatGPT a try. So, did ChatGPT win over this skeptical contrarian? It felt like I was having a conversation with an actual human being, which SmarterChild just simply couldn't emulate during its heyday.

Even though Siri and Alexa are chatbots that many people now believe they can't live without, it was the SmarterChild chatbot that lived on many people's buddy lists in 2000, and that gave humans their first widespread exposure to chatbots. The thing that SmarterChild, Siri and Alexa have, along with other successful chatbots (computer programs designed to mimic human conversation), is personality. Robert Hoffer, the creator of SmarterChild, explained their goal was to create a bot people would actually use and to achieve that objective, "we had to make the best friend on the Internet." They succeeded in creating a bot who could respond with funny, sad, and sarcastic comments--ultimately more human-like than a robot. And, back in 2000, it spoke to 250,000 humans each day, which was extraordinary for the time, so there's no debate that it was used!

In the glory days of AOL Instant Messenger, back when screen names and away messages were serious literary pursuits, a mysterious chat maverick strode about the dial-up frontier and schooled legions of uncouth adolescents in the art of conversation. Who was this rogue wordsmith, this tireless vexer of pre-teen millennials? Surely no mortal could generate replies with such speed, charm, and unflinching certainty. Turns out it was a bot, an artificial chat companion named SmarterChild, and it was sublime. No matter the topic, intensity, or logic of conversational challengers, SmarterChild always had the final word.

Even though Siri and Alexa are chatbots that many people now believe they can't live without, it was the SmarterChild chatbot that lived on many people's buddy lists in 2000, and that gave humans their first widespread exposure to chatbots. The thing that SmarterChild, Siri and Alexa have, along with other successful chatbots (computer programs designed to mimic human conversation), is personality. Robert Hoffer, the creator of SmarterChild, explained their goal was to create a bot people would actually use and to achieve that objective, "we had to make the best friend on the Internet." They succeeded in creating a bot who could respond with funny, sad, and sarcastic comments--ultimately more human-like than a robot. And, back in 2000, it spoke to 250,000 humans each day, which was extraordinary for the time, so there's no debate that it was used!

In the last couple of years, we have heard a lot about chatbots. They are being adopted rapidly by businesses in many industries including banking, entertainment, finance, healthcare and media, to name a few. A study by Business Insider shows 80% of the businesses want chatbots by 2020. This blog aims to answer some common questions about chatbots. A chatbot is a computer program that mimics conversation with people, using artificial intelligence (AI), and are revolutionizing the way we interact with the internet.

The technology underneath is not new but 2017 it's been the most prolific year for chatbot development. If we don't want the industry to die, 2018 should be the year of massive user adoption. Many users feel disappointed with chatbots because they can't fulfill what's expected from them. It might be true that NLP (Natural Language Processing) is not as advanced as we all would want, but there have been successful chatbots since 2001 with SmarterChild! At BEEVA we expect that the trends in the next year will be around the following topics: Use cases, Personality, Context, Webviews and Omnichannel.

The age of the bot has begun. We just have barely begun to notice. It's only been 10 years, and smartphones have fundamentally changed our world, the bot revolution will come quicker, and have an even greater impact on us. The bots cometh in all shapes and sizes, hardware and software, automations and AI and robot fried and foe. But most likely our most common interaction with them in the very near future will be in the form of messenger/personal assistant and customer service bots.

These days, talking to a bot is commonplace. Think Siri, or your chatty banking app. But you wouldn't talk to your toaster like you talk to a friend -- unless your toaster had a great sense of humor. These days, talking to a bot is commonplace. Think Siri, or your chatty banking app.

These days, talking to a bot is commonplace. Think Siri, or your chatty banking app. But you wouldn't talk to your toaster like you talk to a friend -- unless your toaster had a great sense of humor. These days, talking to a bot is commonplace. Think Siri, or your chatty banking app.