The History Timeline of AI Chatbots: Before, Now & Beyond

Written by Sharoon Emmanuel

Though chatbots are considered to be an emerging technology but the reality is quite the opposite. Astonishingly, chatbots have been around since the time of the very first computers.

Chatbots Date Back to the 60’s

Chatbots were first developed in the mid 60’s. “Elizza” was the very first Chatbot created at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) in 1966 which was later called the “chatter bot”. The main aim of this chatbot was to enable a communication interface to connect between machine and Man. Being a ground-breaking innovation of the time, Elizza gained immense popularity as it mimicked the responses of a non-directional psychotherapist in a preliminary psychiatric interview.

Parry- The Successor of Elizza

In 1972, Stanford University created another famous chatbot by the name of “Parry”. It was the modified version of Elizza and came with an emotional attitude.  Both of these early chatbots were connected through ARPANET & communicated with each other.

Interestingly, during a test, professional psychiatrists were only able to distinguish about 48% of responses from an actual human and Parry.

Related:- Custom Chatbot Development

The Release of Jabberwacky: The Era of Smarter Chatbots

After the laudable success of the initial chatbots, Jabberwacky was launched as the very first chatbot that mimicked human voice.  The main purpose aim of its development was to enable the chatbot to clear the turing test.

Dr Sbaitso: Chatbot with a User Interface

Dr Sbaitso was developed in 1992 and it came with a User Interface and imitated the responses of a psychologist.

Entering the 20th Century with Alice

Alice, created in 1995 was the most famous chatbot of its era that had the ability to communicate with humans more efficiently owing to its experiential functions.

Another interesting fact is that Alice was also the inspiration for Apple’s “Siri”. Apart from paving the way for future innovations in computer sciences, it was the inspiration of many science fiction movies of that time.

Chatbots Haven’t Time Traveled, They’ve Evolved

After looking at all the facts and figures, it is proved that chatbots aren’t something that appeared overnight. Focusing on assisting humans to efficiently perform tasks, chatbots have gone through many stages of evolution to become the modern assistive aids we know of today.

Related:- Chatbot development services in Dubai

Apple, Amazon, Google & IBM’s Contribution 

The revolution in AI Chatbots came with the launch of Apple’s propriety personal assistant “Siri”. Siri features a wide range of user commands, including scheduling events, verifying basic information, handling device settings, performing phone actions, reminders, browsing the internet, navigating areas, and being able to engage with iOS applications.

IBM’s Watson further expanded on the disruption via the natural language processing game.  

Amazon released Alexa & Google developed its own dialog agent “Dialog Flow” that offers natural language processing capabilities.  Google’s agent also offers a one-window integration platform to work with frameworks of Facebook, Twitter, Cortana, Skype, Slack, Alexa and many more.

Business Applications of AI Chatbots

Chatbots are now smart enough to analyze information and take key decisions on their own. Rapidly becoming an integral part of our lives, chatbots of the new age are enabling people to operate effectively and efficiently.

Leading businesses are now using chatbots to augment their efficiency. They are vastly being used in various industries such as retail, entertainment and social networks amongst many others to not only acquire information but act according to intent.

Chatbots have heavily penetrated in all operations ranging from answering queries, acquiring help from manuals to cater complex concerns to carry out user tasks based on preferences and patterns.

A recent survey reveals that about 80% of businesses globally are planning to implement a functional chatbot system by 2020. As consumer-facing businesses are all about experience, having a chatbot system integrated with your current infrastructure will only add to your advantage.

When it comes to the innovations in chatbot development, sky’s the limit. Due to the infusion of Artificial Intelligence, the possibilities of business benefits offered by chatbots have further expanded.

Also Read:-  AI Chatbots Business Applications: Key Constituent for an Amplified Customer Experience & ROI Augmentation

Why Having a Chatbot System for Your Business is the Right Choice?

Chatbots are helpful for both business owners and customers alike. They help provide an unparalleled user experience, ultimate accessibility, round the clock support, automate processes and real-time information acquisition.

Why Choose Bester Capital Media as Your Chatbot Development Service Provider?

As Dubai’s leading digital media agency, BCM is proficient to cater a diverse range of technology, marketing and creative concerns. Bester’s professional and seasoned workforce are adept at understanding the clients’ workflows and are able to help them achieve short-term and long-term business goals via custom chatbot development services.

With BCM’s digital media agency, customers can be assured of high-quality, cost-effective solutions focused on personifying your brand, building trust and driving sales.

Connect with us today to inquire more about developing AI-based chatbots for your business!

 


Originally Published April 22, 2019 02:00 PM, Updated April 24, 2019.



Our Latest Blogs

Our Latest Blogs