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I tried their Itemsy example, and it's not very good advertising for their service: Hey I'm here to answer your questions about Itemsy Me: What is this? Ite

I tried their Itemsy example, and it's not very good advertising for their service: Hey I'm here to answer your questions about Itemsy Me: What is this? Itemsy is a tool for managing the content that you read online. You can think of it as Pinterest for the things you read. You can save it for yourself, share within a closed group or publish to your followers. Me: Followers on what sites? I'm sorry, I'm not sure what you mean. Shall we chat about Itemsy a bit more? Me: Sure. How many followers can I share with? You can share with up to 100 followers. Me: Where do these followers come from? You can add followers manually or automatically. Me: If I do it automatically, how do I do that? You can connect any Medium blog or RSS feed to your Itemsy account. If you do so, all new posts will be automatically posted on your public Itemsy profile. Me: How do I automatically add followers? I'm not sure what you mean. Shall we chat about Itemsy a bit more? Me: Sure. Let's change subject. Can you tell me if I can post links to what I have read directly on your web site? Sure. You can post links to what you have read directly on your web site. Me: But do you have any funcitonality on your website to let me do that? I don't have a web site. I'm sorry, I'm not sure what you mean. Could you say that again? Me: I want to know what features your web site has. Sure. You can post links to what you have read directly on your web site. Me: It's starting to sound as though you're just sharing some canned answers to me? What do you mean exactly? Could you please try saying it some other way?

perryizgr8 6y ago
My interaction was going all good and I just sent "OK" as a final message. The bot responded with "On what platforms is Itemsy avaiable?" :D Definitely needs more work.
boltefnovor 6y ago
It’s both impressive and also weirdly like a Johnny Cab. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xGi6j2VrL0o https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xGi6j2VrL0o
- vijayr02 6y ago
  I remember when the movie came out, I really couldn't get why they would interface Jonny to the car through a joystick rather than directly. But hey, it's Arnie and it's funny so all is forgiven!
  - yetihehe 6y ago
    The answer is simple - bureaucracy. Probably you were spared having to deal with government types.
lloeki 6y ago
> It's starting to sound as though you're just sharing some canned answers to me? This sounds very Chinese room-ey: it learned from a reference corpus but doesn’t understand the meaning of it.
hombre_fatal 6y ago
Honestly it's not even clear to me what you're asking in some of these. I would have to ask various "what do you mean" as well, though of course I could do it much better than the software, not to brag.
- lokedhs 6y ago
  That's my point. Of course a system like this is able to answer precisely targeted questions, but that's not how people communicate. I was trying to to assume the role of a person who doesn't know anything about the product, and want to understand more. Now, if you ask very targeted questions, then you can get useful answers. But that's not really impressive. Chatbots that are able to hand out canned answers has been available for decades. If you advertise your system as being able to handle "natural" conversations, I tend to expect more. I rephrased by previous question and instead of simply asking "what kind of followers", I asked for specific social networks. That worked, until it didn't, and the answer to the last question shows that even when it answers in a coherent way, I can't really trust the answers. Hey I'm here to answer your questions about Itemsy Me: What services to do you provide? We provide a tool for managing the content that you read online. Me: Can I share content with my followers? Yes, you can share your collections with your followers. Me: Can I share content with my followers on Facebook? Yes, you can share your collections with your followers on Facebook. Me: Can I share content to my followers on social networks other than Facebook? Yes, you can share your collections to your followers on social networks other than Facebook. Me: Which social networks can I share content to? You can share your collections to your followers on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ and Pinterest. Me: Are you going to allow me to share content on Mastodon? (Mastodon is a new federated social network that is growing in popularity) I'm sorry, I'm not sure what you mean. Could you please try again? Me: Can I share content on Reddit? Yes, you can share your collections to your followers on Reddit.
  - jkinudsjknds 6y ago
    You're right in that it's not much of a natural conversation. But I still disagree with what you're proposing as good questions. The questions you asked would plausibly confuse a real person who is ESL or just not that smart. Communication goes both ways.
als0 6y ago
Yeah. It fell over on my first and rather simple question. Me: "why should i use this?" I'm not sure what you mean. Could you please try rephrasing it?"

perryizgr8 6y ago

My interaction was going all good and I just sent "OK" as a final message. The bot responded with "On what platforms is Itemsy avaiable?" :D Definitely needs more work.

boltefnovor 6y ago

It’s both impressive and also weirdly like a Johnny Cab. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xGi6j2VrL0o https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xGi6j2VrL0o

vijayr02 6y ago
I remember when the movie came out, I really couldn't get why they would interface Jonny to the car through a joystick rather than directly. But hey, it's Arnie and it's funny so all is forgiven!
- yetihehe 6y ago
  The answer is simple - bureaucracy. Probably you were spared having to deal with government types.

lloeki 6y ago

> It's starting to sound as though you're just sharing some canned answers to me? This sounds very Chinese room-ey: it learned from a reference corpus but doesn’t understand the meaning of it.

hombre_fatal 6y ago

Honestly it's not even clear to me what you're asking in some of these. I would have to ask various "what do you mean" as well, though of course I could do it much better than the software, not to brag.

lokedhs 6y ago
That's my point. Of course a system like this is able to answer precisely targeted questions, but that's not how people communicate. I was trying to to assume the role of a person who doesn't know anything about the product, and want to understand more. Now, if you ask very targeted questions, then you can get useful answers. But that's not really impressive. Chatbots that are able to hand out canned answers has been available for decades. If you advertise your system as being able to handle "natural" conversations, I tend to expect more. I rephrased by previous question and instead of simply asking "what kind of followers", I asked for specific social networks. That worked, until it didn't, and the answer to the last question shows that even when it answers in a coherent way, I can't really trust the answers. Hey I'm here to answer your questions about Itemsy Me: What services to do you provide? We provide a tool for managing the content that you read online. Me: Can I share content with my followers? Yes, you can share your collections with your followers. Me: Can I share content with my followers on Facebook? Yes, you can share your collections with your followers on Facebook. Me: Can I share content to my followers on social networks other than Facebook? Yes, you can share your collections to your followers on social networks other than Facebook. Me: Which social networks can I share content to? You can share your collections to your followers on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ and Pinterest. Me: Are you going to allow me to share content on Mastodon? (Mastodon is a new federated social network that is growing in popularity) I'm sorry, I'm not sure what you mean. Could you please try again? Me: Can I share content on Reddit? Yes, you can share your collections to your followers on Reddit.
- jkinudsjknds 6y ago
  You're right in that it's not much of a natural conversation. But I still disagree with what you're proposing as good questions. The questions you asked would plausibly confuse a real person who is ESL or just not that smart. Communication goes both ways.

als0 6y ago

Yeah. It fell over on my first and rather simple question. Me: "why should i use this?" I'm not sure what you mean. Could you please try rephrasing it?"