Six months ago, Facebook Inc. said it would open its Messenger service, making it possible for businesses to build virtual assistants that can chat with the one billion-plus real people who use the communications platform each month. Since then, developers have created more than 33,000 such “chatbots,” which have icons and nicknames that at first glance might not appear that different from a friend or relative in a user’s contact list. ...
Facebook opened its Messenger service for users six months ago to build virtual assistants to chat to users , and since that , 33,000 chatbots have been created . The technology is virtually indistinguishable at first glance from a Facebook friend or acquaintance . Facebook launched a bankbot called Kai last month that uses Facebook Messenger to allow users to check accounts on their accounts and set up financial management tools . Further capabilities for bots are likely in future , with companies predicting that Facebook , chatbots and messaging services will at one point converge .