Andy Mauro on bot platforms and tools
The O’Reilly Bots Podcast: A look at some of the technologies behind the chatbot boom.
Tools. (source: Pixabay)
In this episode of the O’Reilly Bots Podcast, Pete Skomoroch and I speak with Andy Mauro, co-founder and CEO of Automat, a startup whose tools make it easy to build AI-powered bots. (Disclosure: Automat is a portfolio company of O’Reilly AlphaTech Ventures, a VC firm affiliated with O’Reilly Media.) Mauro will be speaking at O’Reilly Bot Day on October 19, 2016, in San Francisco.
“Anyone looking to get into this space should be looking at the emerging new platforms,” advises Mauro. “Pick the right channel, pick the vertical problem, and pick a platform that fits your strategic goals.” We discuss various bot platforms, including those developed by Facebook, Slack, and Microsoft, and Andy’s “sleeper pick,” Kik.
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Other discussion points:
- The development of conversational interfaces over the last 15 years
- The importance of language understanding
- “AI should be invisible to the end user,” says Mauro
- Why big companies are now talking about their bot and messaging strategies
Other links:
- Apple’s 1987 “Knowledge Navigator” concept video
- KLM’s messenger bot for passengers