What are conversational bots? - An introduction to and overview of AI-driven chatbots

A free ebook on chatbots: In this report, authors Jon Bruner and Mike Barlow examine the promise of chatbots, as well as the challenges they face. Driven by recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI), chatbots have a bright future in customer relations, healthcare, games and entertainment, and worker productivity (picture a bot as your personal assistant). Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella recently declared that, "bots are the new apps." Browse this report and explore today’s emerging chatbot landscape, including: • Why chatbots now?—Understand the factors behind the rise of bots, some of their use cases, and questions still to be answered. • Messaging platforms/frameworks for bots—Amazon Alexa, Apple Siri, Facebook Messenger, Google Now and Google Assistant, Microsoft Bot Framework, and more • AI Platforms and Frameworks for bots—Api.ai, Google TensorFlow, IBM Watson Conversation, Wit.ai, and scikit-learn • Real-world examples—Burger King, Fidelity Investments, Amtrak, Cobalt (CRM), Troops, and more

Thanks to @chrismessina for posting this! Always interested in looking at new chatbot technologies; if you've got 'em, send links my way. And, here's a shameless plug for O'Reilly Bot Day as well: if you're interested in bots, you should come. http://oreilly.com/bots