There were no hell-bent hunks of steel storming the center ring. No crush of metal against blade. No remote-control wizards behind protective glass. Not even an aluminum pulverizer.
Much to my dismay, Boston's recent BOT2001 conference took little inspiration from Comedy Central's geekiest smash hit: BattleBots. A seminar on bots and intelligent agents at work outside the BattleBox arena, BOT2001 spent a great deal more time explaining how the robotic revolution will change customer service than assessing the merits of Ankle Biter versus Vlad the Impaler. However, Boston's bot conference did borrow provocative themes and ideas from Hollywood creations, such as The Matrix and Steven Spielberg's new blockbuster, A.I., that demonstrate the truly powerful potential for bots in the 21st century.
Many presenters and participants at BOT2001 discussed applications for robot technology on the Web -- particularly for meeting the escalating standards for online customer service. Already, vReps (virtual representatives) designed and deployed by San Francisco's NativeMinds Inc. are answering commonly asked help-desk questions on internal and external sites for Coca-Cola, Ford Motor, and Oracle. By streamlining redundant questions under the bots' domain, NativeMinds says that it's saving its clients money on payroll costs and providing unique information about the user experience.
Among NativeMinds's competitors is Kiwilogic, a European company that also develops natural-language interfaces for the Web. Kiwilogic's Lingubots interact with customers through logical conversation streams. For example, if you log onto a site powered by Kiwilogic and type in "Where is the shipment I ordered last week?", the Lingubot would automatically review your purchasing history and reply with the most recent delivery information.
When a user's request strays from the standard FAQ, the bot hands over the conversation stream to a real, live person for further help. But often, human interaction is all a customer wants in the first place. No matter how intelligent and intuitive bot technology becomes, it will never stem a customer's innate desire to vent loudly and obnoxiously at a human being who is, at least theoretically, paid to make him happy.
Companies like LifeFX recognize the importance of personal, one-on-one service and are working to humanize the Web through high-tech graphic interfaces that look, move, and speak like humans. Based in Newton, Massachusetts, LifeFX creates photo-realistic images of people, animals, and imaginary creatures that respond to customers' inquiries with spoken answers, appropriate facial expressions, and even the occasional hoot or holler.
Dubbed Stand-In Virtual People, LifeFX's digital humans greet site visitors, answer customer questions, and appear in Facemail messages. And though the Stand-Ins' words are scripted and their smiles programmed, Steve Ardire, senior vice president of business development and sales for LifeFX, believes that users will begin to regard these synthetic characters as human and form emotional bonds with them, thereby spurring greater site loyalty and customer-service satisfaction.
As cool as it sounds to chat with a digital Bill Gates or Britney Spears, I can't help but wonder whether this technology will really transform customer service on the Web. Will I forget that lost bundle of Christmas gifts if a synthetic Jeff Bezos asks for my forgiveness and sheds digital tears when I demand a double refund? Will I better understand my erroneous cell-phone charges if a digitized pug (yes, LifeFX has created a talking dog) reviews the service contract with me online? Doubtful.
In fact, it's unlikely that any of the customer-service bots in development today will revolutionize the way we use the Web tomorrow. They may provide a quicker answer and reduce operating costs, but they won't change the game -- just the rules. Working with even the best help bot, I am still forced to synthesize, communicate, and wait. I still have to translate my request into simplified terms, and then type it in and figure out whether the scripted answer really solved my problem. I still have to work for a solution.
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