• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, November 8, 2016

Microsoft introduced Skype users to the mystical world of Doctor Stephen Strange, the newest Marvel Super Hero. The chatbot was created with PullString's artificial intelligence (AI) technology. Add the character as a contact on Skype and chat with it to play games or accomplish daily tasks. The chatbot searches for answers based on the query asked.

Brands also have used PullString's technology to build bots for Facebook Messenger. Before Activation released "Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare," the agency AKQA in partnership with PullString created a chatbot to introduce a new character, Lieutenant Reyes, for use on Facebook Messenger. It gave players a chance to meet the new character before Activation released the game.

The PullString platform, announced into general availability in September, allows advertisers to create an account and log in to build a chat bot.

Advertisers have yet to build an open search platform through a PullString chatbot where someone can ask a question and the chatbot would reach out to the Internet for answers, but Oren Jacob, CEO and co-founder, said there are several companies building a customer service chatbot scheduled for release in a few weeks that will reach into a pre-populated database to respond to some questions and queries such as phone numbers and addresses.

I have high hopes for chatbots in the future. I see them as being a little scary and spooky, but fascinating. The next step, in my opinion, would be to pull in information across the company's Web site such as product availability or a phone number and then through the Web. Jacob said that in several months the focus on chatbots for some companies will turn toward ecommerce where it will be applied to the flow of purchasing such as collecting a bunch of products, putting them in a shopping cart to check out, and authenticating the purchase.  

"We see companies building their own Web sites rather than generically trolling eBay or Amazon," Jacob said. "I have not seen anyone try to scrape Google for ecommerce. That seems ambitious to me."

From PullString the chatbot needs the ability to reach out through an API into the Internet for answers. For instance, the chatbot script would query an API to get the correct weather forecast for a specific location. PullString does not scrape Wikipedia, for example, and answer a question with a paragraph on any topic.

To determine success, Jacob says companies measure several key performance indicators, not just one, such as retention and whether the bot allows the user to achieve specific goals.

At the MediaPost Search Insider Summit next month we will debate the future of artificial intelligence, chatbots and how they will change search.