Industry executives and experts share their predictions for 2019. Read them in this 11th annual VMblog.com series exclusive.
Contributed by David Cohn, co-founder and chief strategy officer of Pigeon
A Bot for Everything: The Rise of White Label AI
One of the biggest hurdles to the continued expansion of chatbots is where they live. 27 percent of people said they would stop using a chatbot that could only be accessed through Facebook. However, the beauty of chatbots is their current (and future) flexibility.
We often see them on websites answering basic support questions. But soon, AI-powered chatbots may exist in our cars, our appliances and our homes. Imagine a coffee maker that knows you like an extra strong cup on Monday mornings. Or a car that remembers to close your rear windows before you go through the car wash.
As the Internet of Things continues to grow in 2019, so will the footprints and impact of AI-powered chatbots. This will lead to interesting interactions between humans and AI-powered chatbots. As these technologies become more personalized and have the ability to engage in a true conversation, individuals will begin to engage in personalized conversations, as if they were interacting with another human by responding with polite gestures such as: “thank you,” “how are you,” or “how was your day?” These conversations will continue to become more personalized as the technology matures.
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About the Author
David Cohn, Co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer
David Cohn is a co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer of Pigeon, a social sharing app on Facebook Messenger where the community decides what content gets spread and what gets buried. At Pigeon, David oversees product strategy and spearheads the company’s data insights team. In 2015, David joined The Alpha Group, an in-house tech and media incubator for Advance Local, and served as a senior director overseeing content strategy. Advance Local is a media company that specializes in the creation of informational web and local news sites. David has been instrumental to The Alpha Group achieving its mission to develop, accelerate and release innovative tech and media products to help Advance Local create new revenue streams and forge deeper connections with audiences. Pigeon represents The Alpha Group’s third and latest venture, after the successful development and release of The Tylt and Elsewhere. David has been instrumental to The Tylt becoming the web’s largest and fastest-growing social polling and opinion platform, with a monthly reach exceeding 300 million people. Prior to joining Alpha Group, David was the executive producer at AJ+, Al Jazeera’s research and development team, and the chief content officer at Circa, a mobile news app. He has been a lecturer at The UC Berkeley School of Journalism and was a fellow at the University of Missouri School of Journalism. David holds a B.A. in Rhetoric and Philosophy from University of California, Berkeley and a master’s degree in New Media from Columbia University.
