Human or Bot?

Messaging apps have surpassed social networks in popularity. And now more than 11,000 bots have been created on Facebook messenger alone. As they continue to become commonplace in our digital world, there’s no doubt automated interaction through a bot creates an opportunity for business.

Currently developers seem to be more enthusiastic than users themselves, but with the ever-increasing number of bots, quality is only going to improve. Even now, some bots are able to respond in different ways, using everything from GIFs and emojis to audio and video, as a means to communicate with different personalities.

A personal touch like this in an impersonal user interface can give the illusion of companionship and therefore create more of a dependable and tangible role for brands in their relationships with consumers.

But how far can personality go before you’re led to believe you’re interacting with a human being?

Now you might write this off as something from a strange sci-fi love film like Her or Ex Machina; but once a chatbot crosses the void from simple ‘assistant’ to complex entity that knows your habits, routines, hobbies and interests, surely it becomes more difficult to distinguish?

I’m sure we can all agree on the usefulness of bots in the digital sphere, but as technological processes improve and programmes take on more intricate psychological concepts, will we start to blur the barriers between bot and human being?

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