Getting to Know the World of Conversational UI

There’s a bot for that!

Setting the Context

Quiz Time

Quiz Time

Quiz Time

Quiz Time

Chat is eating everything else for breakfast!

The most important question: WHY?It’s an exciting time to be alive… we’re witnessing a paradigm shift again

Our device screens are

overflowing with app icons

Apps living in silos of their

own are no longer tolerable

Jumping from one app to

another is so not cool

All apps are not born

equal

Consolidation

Invisible Apps“Just enough UI or no

UI is the new UI”

App / Notification / OS

Alienation: We’re beginning to

miss human(-like) interactions

Time spent in

messaging apps

now far exceeds that

in social media apps

Human Evolution: Learnt behaviour Innate behaviour

What

Also known as “Artificial Conversational

Entity”, its designed to enable users to

accomplish complex tasks through

natural dialogue

Understanding Conversational Interfaces

When

1. … instantly reachable, almost hiding in plain sight – no need to be downloaded, they live on

servers, not a user’s device. This means using bots should provide a smoother experience for the

user as switching between bots doesn’t involve tapping on another app.

2. … a trusted relationship helps (bot = my friend)

3. … the objective is to accomplish a singular task but too many options available (ask directly)

4. … data entry is easy but processing and analysis is burdensome (offload analysis to server)

5. … the traditional screen interface is too complicated or small (GUI is not always the answer)

6. … a request does not have to be completed immediately (asynchronous + small talk)

7. … context switching if required needs to be easy and not jarring (bot to human hand-off)

8. … user is interacting with multiple byte-sized, micro- and in-the-moment experiences (switching

contexts not apps)

9. … user does not enjoy browsing or deal with subjectivity (most shopaholics may hate bots)

Understanding Conversational Interfaces

How

1. Rich text-based interfaces (limited to text and emoji’s only)

2. Text interspersed with GUIs (most commonly adopted by known bots)

3. Voice-based interfaces (think virtual assistants)

Understanding Conversational Interfaces

1. Rule-based implementation

2. Machine learning-based

Jerry: XiaoIce, will it rain tomorrow?

XiaoIce: Tomorrow the weather in Beijing will be nice with a maximum high of 25*C. No rain to get you soaked.

Jerry: How about the day after tomorrow?

XiaoIce: The day after tomorrow, the weather in Beijing will also be fair, with a max high of 23*C.

Jerry: What about Seattle?

XiaoIce: Yes sir, I’ve got the answer. The day after tomorrow, Seattle will be cloudy with a max high of 30*C. Perfect for going

outside.

Jerry: “Finding Mr. Right” is a great movie. What do you think XiaoIce?

XiaoIce: Oh, romantic comedies are my favorite! It stars Tang Wei, who finds love in Seattle. You should watch it.

Jerry: Do you like Tang Wei?

XiaoIce:

XiaoIce: A goddess! She stole my heart… and then went off and married!

Tom: To who?

XiaoIce: Haven’t you heard?

XiaoIce: Tang Wei is engaged to famous Korean director Kim Tae Yong.

What all the fuss about C-UI’s personality?

“People don’t want something truly new, they

want the familiar done differently”California Role Rule (Nir Eyal)

• We moved from CLI (think MS-DOS) to GUI (MacOS and Windows)

• GUI used real-life objects as interfaces: Recycle Bin, Magnifying Glass etc.

• Glass-look UI pioneered by Apple through iMac and iPhone

Are people you interact with dry and boring?

Then why keep chat-bots so?

Why should you care about your bot’s personality?