Can Siri, Alexa, Cortana, and Voice (or whatever alphabet calls it now) technically be considered chatbots?

neightman · October 8, 2016, 8:09am

I know they are called Intelligent Personal Assistants, but are they some sort of subset (or even superset) of carrots?

alyssaong · October 8, 2016, 4:14pm

First I just want to say that autocorrect made me laugh. While the personal assistants you mentioned aren’t long and orange, I would consider them chatbots.

Here’s @matt’s definition of a chatbot in his article:

A chatbot is a service, powered by rules and sometimes artificial intelligence, that you interact with via a chat interface.

(via https://chatbotsmagazine.com/the-complete-beginner-s-guide-to-chatbots-8280b7b906ca#.ffjnwxemj)

I’d say using voice to talk to Siri/Cortana etc. can be considered a chat interface.

Google’s definition is as follows:

a computer program designed to simulate conversation with human users, especially over the Internet.

And Wikipedia’s:

Chatterbot, a chatter robot is a type of conversational agent, a computer program designed to simulate an intelligent conversation with one or more human users via auditory or textual methods.

I’d say they all simulate conversation, seeing as they answer stuff ranging from “what is the weather” to “tell me a joke” and “how are you”. So imo they are a subset of chatbots

neightman · October 8, 2016, 4:38pm

. New phone, So I have to train auto-correct all over again. It changed “git repo” to “girl response” on Twitter! I’d have thought these keyboards would store my personal dictionary in the cloud, allowing me to download it anytime I change my phone. That can’t be asking for to much, right?

So, it seems I’ve been thinking along the right path then. However, where do we draw the line? Do voice activated apps count? Even if they don’t talk back to me, I could argue they are the software equivalent of a mute butler, no?

jburchett · October 8, 2016, 9:17pm

The definition of a bot is

A device or piece of software that can execute commands, reply to messages, or perform routine tasks, as online searches, either automatically or with minimal human intervention (often used in combination).

Siri, Alexa, Cortana, etc fit perfectly into that definition. So yes, they are indeed a type of chatbot. The only difference is instead of text it’s audio.

ari · October 8, 2016, 10:30pm

I think we have a winner. Carrots it is.

neightman · October 8, 2016, 10:48pm

What about voice activated apps? Would they qualify as mute butler chatbots? Is it a chatbot if all the chatter comes from me?

jburchett · October 8, 2016, 11:01pm

A “chatbot” is just a conversation with a bot, that conversation could be voice or text, so yes.

paul.dunlop · October 30, 2016, 9:26am

Can’t wait to see what carrots the chatbot will be all about I agree that they are chat bots. just because their activated by voice doesn’t make them any less so than their text initiated counterparts.