This past week, I have been conversing with a bot. Here is the back story.  Last Wednesday, I reached out to a contact to set up a call (he is in a different time zone).  Typically, there is a lot of back and forth like “do these times work for you?”, “ Umm… no – how about these time slots”. This ping-pong goes on for a while, until you settle on a time and create a calendar request. This time, my contact CC-ed “Amy Ingram” and asked her to find a mutually convenient time. Amy promptly sends me an e-mail giving me a couple of options and asks for my best phone number. I pick one option, but that time slot was taken, and Amy gives me a couple of more options. We go back and forth and finally find something that is mutually acceptable.  Amy then sends me a meeting request with my correct time zone.

Turns out that Amy (or Andrew, if you prefer a male – yes, I do realize how strange that sounds) is a virtual assistant. Amy is a service provided by x.ai, with the singular purpose of helping to schedule meetings.  It’s a brilliant idea – using bots to do just one thing, really well.  I truly believe that is where bots shine over apps.  Amy uses AI and natural language processing to understand intent (all of my e-mails were exactly as I would communicate with another human).  If the goal is to meet in person, Amy will suggest locations, and even learns preferences like Starbucks v/s corner café.

To be honest, the burden on the opposite side of Amy is still the same i.e. you still have to go back and forth to find a time that suits.  However, it takes the boss of the virtual assistant out of the picture and automates a relatively tedious task for them.  Plus, how many times, have you forgotten to (or have been forgotten) mid-stream of the scheduling ping-pong? Naturally, I signed up right away – there is a waiting list, but x.ai may have a paid version coming soon.

I also read that living, breathing people at x.ai have “human” in their e-mail address – to distinguish them from the bots!  Sign of things to come?