SoylentNews

takyon [soylentnews.org] writes:

Google reportedly believes that chatbots are necessary for the success of a new mobile messaging service [marketwatch.com] in a crowded field:

Google is building a new mobile-messaging service that taps its artificial intelligence know-how and so-called chatbot technology to try to catch rivals including Facebook Inc. in the fast-growing arena, according to people familiar with the matter.

Messaging services are among the world's most popular mobile apps, with more than two billion users, according to Portio Research Ltd. But Google's two messaging services--Hangouts and Messenger--trail far behind Facebook's WhatsApp and Messenger and Tencent Holdings Ltd.'s WeChat, the most popular messaging app in China. Some services are adding other capabilities--WeChat, for instance, lets users shop, pay bills and book appointments.

For its new service, Google, a unit of Alphabet Inc., plans to integrate chatbots, software programs that answer questions inside a messaging app, the people familiar with the matter said. Users will be able to text friends or a chatbot, which will scour the Web and other sources for information to answer a question, those people said.

If your user count is low, adding a billion chatbots may help. Also, how is a texting chatbot more useful than Google Now [wikipedia.org], Siri, or Cortana?

Original Submission