Conversational
Interfaces

Talking to a computer

Conversational interfaces offer a huge advantage in the creation of new user interface concepts because you can talk to them and they can infer meaning from what you say that you want.

Current this kind of interface is still very rudimentary with lots of errors due to misinterpreted words or slow internet connections. And the majority of the current applications is very simple, because most humans tend to be too broad whereas computers prefer high specificity. This always creates a bit of a problem. Similarly as it does with foreigners who don’t speak your language very well. Depending how well they speak your language (size of vocabulary and pronounciation etc.) the thought, that they are stupid quickly arises. Simply just because they don’t know the language.

Let’s start with not so small steps.

What about making video games more intelligent and included more realistic dialogue that really takes into account what you are saying instead a set of some prepared answers you can click your way through. A beautifully designed conversation your players can get a lot out of. But how is such a conversation implemented? This is not a trivial task.

Or experience interactive literature. Have your personal version of The Lord of The Rings, where you can be one of the Hobbits that embarks on the Journey. If you could talk to your stories and make the experience into more of a conversation

Another use case is elderly car or companions for lonely people. Applications could range from a simple servant up to much more capable companion bots that can help someone with anxiety or depression. Despite the social component of [[solitude]] solitude for some it may possibly be easier to just talk with a machine instead of another human being.

An interface with feelings

I am not convinced that it is necessary or useful to give to much feelings into the current generation of conversational interfaces. I prefer them more as a neutral being like the Computer in Star Trek. Giving too much of a personality evokes such eerie feelings I had when watching “Her”, a movie about a man who falls in love with the [[bodyless-voices]] bodyless voice of his computer.

Better interaction with the computer as a tool

Access to a computer by just talking to the machine is a dream scenario. Imagine you could just have a chat with your computer to solve a task instead of manually inputting the commands one by one in a slowly crawl that suffocates any creative spark you might have had.

A good implementation and attractive use case

There are a lot of touchpoints I can imagine that would reap huge benefits. Imagine the advantages of a conversational ai system at an airport where thousands of people are talking to only a handful of service employees each day. On 24/7 rush hour days as in the holiday season these service employees often feel inundated and completely overwhelmed by the sheer mass of questions they have to handle with utter politeness for hours on end. Such a scenario could greatly profit from a good implementation of [[conversational-ai]] The hard part is but exactly that. A good implementation. How do the human service employees interact with those conversational ais? Or do only business and first class travelers have access to real humans in the future? I’ll leave that one to you for now.