[choward]

I couldn't disagree with article more. I don't want a damn chat bot. I want a way to solve my problems that's not pretending to talk to person. I don't what to have to guess a string to enter to get the results I want. Give me some sort of real UI. I can't see how a chat bot could be more effective than good documentation with good search functionality.

[mikesabat]

Once the word "bot" is used, I pretty much discount the entire experience. A bot cannot "be more effective than good documentation with good search functionality."

Messaging has potential as a channel, but "bots" are a misstep. Faking a personality makes it even worse. Pretending to understand the user is just utterly transparent.

Messaging is good at collecting data, prompting response, reminding people and triggering actions like calls or clicks. None of the strengths are bot-based.

[userbinator]

I (fortunately) haven't had to interact with an online chatbot, but in the case of voice ones, shouting a few expletives usually gets me a real human. I wonder if the same thing works here.

[SomeStupidPoint]

It's not:

There's just a massive failure of leadership in tech companies (well, in general), so rather than deal with real challenges, they smother themselves in carbon-monoxide statistics -- things that don't set off alarms, but destroy the business through misoptimization.