4 ms·

This Conversation Is Going Nowhere

58 points by jkestelyn 9y ago

jkestelyn 9y ago
"The technology to make AI-powered assistants truly useful is still far out of reach, and people aren't rushing to close that gap by adapting their behavior." Exactly; if you build a bot with the intention of relying 100% on NLP, you're asking for trouble. But I fail to see how that fact leads to chatbots being useless when there are plenty of tools available for guiding necessary optimizations that can lead to a much better experience. When websites were bad we turned to tools like Google Analytics to make website development data driven -- we didn't stop building them.
- alexcabrera 9y ago
  To be fair, regular people use websites. Regular people do not use chatbots in significant numbers
  - jkestelyn 9y ago
    I don't disagree but how is that relevant?
    - resu_nimda 9y ago
      Because even when websites were "bad," the web was still a successful platform with wide adoption. Google Analytics came about because the ecosystem was growing and thriving, not to save something that had failed to gain traction.
      - jkestelyn 9y ago
        So analytics are only useful for successful techs with wide adoption? I think many of those techs got that way because of analytics.
  - netsharc 9y ago
    A killer app (well, in this consumerism-driven world) would be a TV ad that ends with "Order now! Just tell your voice assistant 'buy me a pair of the pair of Jimmy Choo's Megan Fox wore in her ad!'". And it would either have your shoe size saved in your profile, or if you're not the right gender, it will prompt "For who is this pair? Your wife has size 38. Your mistress Mandy has size 36."...
douglaswlance 9y ago
Chatbots should be used to augment humans, not replace them. For example, one customer service rep can hold discussions with hundreds of people with the help of AI, rather than just 10-20 without. AI is an augment, not a replacement.
carussell 9y ago
I've thought for some time now that the real killer app for natural language assistants—especially voice activated assistants like Alexa, perhaps slightly less suited for text-based chatbots—lies in short, episodic, choose-your-own-adventure-style games. The more I think about it, the more I'm not really sure why this isn't a thing yet, and why we haven't seen a resurgence in the popularity of interactive fiction—albeit this time for the masses, and not necessarily limited to those inclined to go load up a copy of Zork. And content creation is more accessible than ever. I mean, have you seen an example of what the source code for an Inform7 game looks like? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inform#Inform_7_programming_language https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inform#Inform_7_programming_la... To reiterate, it almost seems crazy that there isn't a massive catalog of $0.99 serials that you can play through in 45-minute chapters while cooking, driving down the road with the family or on the way to work, etc.
- irrational 9y ago
  Oh man. I've had 0 interest in any of the voice activated assistants so far. But this would be the killer app that would get me on board.
- sien 9y ago
  This is such a great idea. Apparently some exist: https://www.polygon.com/features/2017/2/27/14643756/text-adventure-thaumistry-bob-bates https://www.polygon.com/features/2017/2/27/14643756/text-adv...
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
- darepublic 9y ago
  I've often thought the same. Zork is the path to a conversational bot that people find it worthwhile to talk to.
- ClassyJacket 9y ago
  This is exactly a project I've wanted to make for a few months now - I have some ideas outlined and notes written for a game like this. I just don't have time to build it, especially when it'll in all likelihood make me far less than minimum wage.
Cyberdog 9y ago
Dear people who have product blogs like this: Please put a global header on your blog that says "X is a Y that does Z." In this case, "Digit is a service that helps you automatically save money based on your income and spending." That way, we get some much-needed context when we stumble across your blog articles talking about what you've learned by building and selling your product.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- beams_of_light 9y ago
  Virtually every HN article would benefit from these descriptors as well.
  - opportune 9y ago
    Especially Show HN. Perhaps I shouldn't be too harsh as I've never personally released a product before, but over half of Show HN's leave me asking the question "what is the actual product" and even more "what is the utility of this product."
- dredmorbius 9y ago
  Very much this. For quite some time, the original of this was my top-rated HN comment: https://www.reddit.com/r/dredmorbius/comments/27d5xr/please_forward_to_marketing_how_to_present_your/ https://www.reddit.com/r/dredmorbius/comments/27d5xr/please_...
- spookyuser 9y ago
  And to add to this, if a product is only available in the U.S it should be marked clearly so. I hate having to look either in the <small> text of your website or the fifth page of your sign up process to find out.
djrogers 9y ago
As a digit user, this makes me kinda sad - I actually like the chat interface for basic stuff like checking my balances. Opening an app, logging in, and navigating a UI that may or may not changed since I last used it is far more friction than typing ‘balance’ into iMessage...
abritinthebay 9y ago
I loved Digit, but then they changed their model to charge me more for the same things and the value proposition shifted. I use Trim now, which actually is more feature rich. But man I loved Digit's simplicity.

58 points by jkestelyn 9y ago

"The technology to make AI-powered assistants truly useful is still far out of reach, and people aren't rushing to close that gap by adapting their behavior." Exactly; if you build a bot with the intention of relying 100% on NLP, you're asking for trouble. But I fail to see how that fact leads to chatbots being useless when there are plenty of tools available for guiding necessary optimizations that can lead to a much better experience. When websites were bad we turned to tools like Google Analytics to make website development data driven -- we didn't stop building them.

alexcabrera 9y ago
To be fair, regular people use websites. Regular people do not use chatbots in significant numbers
- jkestelyn 9y ago
  I don't disagree but how is that relevant?
  - resu_nimda 9y ago
    Because even when websites were "bad," the web was still a successful platform with wide adoption. Google Analytics came about because the ecosystem was growing and thriving, not to save something that had failed to gain traction.
    - jkestelyn 9y ago
      So analytics are only useful for successful techs with wide adoption? I think many of those techs got that way because of analytics.
- netsharc 9y ago
  A killer app (well, in this consumerism-driven world) would be a TV ad that ends with "Order now! Just tell your voice assistant 'buy me a pair of the pair of Jimmy Choo's Megan Fox wore in her ad!'". And it would either have your shoe size saved in your profile, or if you're not the right gender, it will prompt "For who is this pair? Your wife has size 38. Your mistress Mandy has size 36."...

douglaswlance 9y ago

Chatbots should be used to augment humans, not replace them. For example, one customer service rep can hold discussions with hundreds of people with the help of AI, rather than just 10-20 without. AI is an augment, not a replacement.

carussell 9y ago

I've thought for some time now that the real killer app for natural language assistants—especially voice activated assistants like Alexa, perhaps slightly less suited for text-based chatbots—lies in short, episodic, choose-your-own-adventure-style games. The more I think about it, the more I'm not really sure why this isn't a thing yet, and why we haven't seen a resurgence in the popularity of interactive fiction—albeit this time for the masses, and not necessarily limited to those inclined to go load up a copy of Zork. And content creation is more accessible than ever. I mean, have you seen an example of what the source code for an Inform7 game looks like? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inform#Inform_7_programming_language https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inform#Inform_7_programming_la... To reiterate, it almost seems crazy that there isn't a massive catalog of $0.99 serials that you can play through in 45-minute chapters while cooking, driving down the road with the family or on the way to work, etc.

irrational 9y ago
Oh man. I've had 0 interest in any of the voice activated assistants so far. But this would be the killer app that would get me on board.
sien 9y ago
This is such a great idea. Apparently some exist: https://www.polygon.com/features/2017/2/27/14643756/text-adventure-thaumistry-bob-bates https://www.polygon.com/features/2017/2/27/14643756/text-adv...
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
darepublic 9y ago
I've often thought the same. Zork is the path to a conversational bot that people find it worthwhile to talk to.
ClassyJacket 9y ago
This is exactly a project I've wanted to make for a few months now - I have some ideas outlined and notes written for a game like this. I just don't have time to build it, especially when it'll in all likelihood make me far less than minimum wage.

Cyberdog 9y ago

Dear people who have product blogs like this: Please put a global header on your blog that says "X is a Y that does Z." In this case, "Digit is a service that helps you automatically save money based on your income and spending." That way, we get some much-needed context when we stumble across your blog articles talking about what you've learned by building and selling your product.

deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
beams_of_light 9y ago
Virtually every HN article would benefit from these descriptors as well.
- opportune 9y ago
  Especially Show HN. Perhaps I shouldn't be too harsh as I've never personally released a product before, but over half of Show HN's leave me asking the question "what is the actual product" and even more "what is the utility of this product."
dredmorbius 9y ago
Very much this. For quite some time, the original of this was my top-rated HN comment: https://www.reddit.com/r/dredmorbius/comments/27d5xr/please_forward_to_marketing_how_to_present_your/ https://www.reddit.com/r/dredmorbius/comments/27d5xr/please_...
spookyuser 9y ago
And to add to this, if a product is only available in the U.S it should be marked clearly so. I hate having to look either in the <small> text of your website or the fifth page of your sign up process to find out.

djrogers 9y ago

As a digit user, this makes me kinda sad - I actually like the chat interface for basic stuff like checking my balances. Opening an app, logging in, and navigating a UI that may or may not changed since I last used it is far more friction than typing ‘balance’ into iMessage...

abritinthebay 9y ago

I loved Digit, but then they changed their model to charge me more for the same things and the value proposition shifted. I use Trim now, which actually is more feature rich. But man I loved Digit's simplicity.