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This is the problem with lots of companies making their own bots--it doesn't actually make people's lives easier, it just shifts the problem. We don't need a bot for each business and service we use, we need well architected, well maintained, well documented APIs for each. If you have a good API and good brand awareness, you don't need to follow the fads; the community will do that for you.

This sounds terrible to me! The interactions are all backwards. It would work in an idealized non-commercial world, but not in the one we inhabit.

>> Choose the brands from below a) Papa Johns b) Dominos c) Pizzahut

I don't know! Which one's cheapest? By how much? Is it appreciably worse, should I go for the other one?

It's like a description of post-scarcity bot. I'd just cat /dev/pizza, or something.

But in the real world if I ever found myself in a position to make decisions like that without regard to cost I'm either paraletic or I have a human assistant. :)

(Semi-serious bit: Here in the UK, I'd go for local pizza chain. Dominos without a money off voucher costs more than a three course meal. I have no idea how they stay in business).

Great points @redmaverick. Your ideal interaction described above is what I called a 'meta-chatbot' i.e. a chatbot that interfaces with other bots and interacts on your behalf with them.

This bot receives input from you, based on its knowlwedge of available bots, routes your requests to them and pipes the response back to you.

The problem with the current bot arms race is that we end up shifting the app fragmentation issue from the device home screen to the messaging app screen.

We bot enthusiasts love to claim that one of the advantages of using bots is that the user is already within the messaging app. But when you have lots of bots for different 'small' tasks then there is still a huge fragmentation as you switch context from the taxi bot to the pizza bot.

I shared some thoughts on the 'meta-bot' here: https://medium.com/@pelumi/chatbots-igniting-division-of-lab... it will be great to know your thoughts

Likewise, I would have to search the web a lot and multiple click my way to what I want.

This. And this is what I want from Siri, too. I find it funny that the Siri examples are always so stupid. "What's the weather in $MYCITY?" You know, clicking on the weather app is actually faster than this.

What I cannot do fast and what Siri is apparently incapable of doing yet, is something like chaining information:

"Where can I buy snow chains on the way to Lake Tahoe with the least detour from my current route?"

"Where is the next Starbucks along my route to Amsterdam?"

I hope this comes soon. This would be incredibly helpful.

This is what we are settled to build at https://snips.ai -- by understanding your personal knowledge graph with privacy in mind, we aim to create an AI which understands you without leaking data.

As we grow our product, we will include commands to chat with the AI when you want to express a complex task, or a semi-specified task ("I want to watch a movie tonight" / "What kind of movie?")

Have you tried Telegram bots with inline feature supported? It does exactly same thing you have described. (but not ordering pizza yet)

At any one-o-one chat or group chat type:

@gif happy minions -> shows gifs

@youtube js talk -> find relevant videos and select one to send to chat

and so on

So you still have to name the bot you want, vs the system figuring out which bot(s) are able to handle your request, which the parent post seems to suggest.

> My ideal interaction:

Gosh are your standards low. Can you really not think of something better?

> 1. Open Facebook Messenger

That's one too many step. Also why Facebook?

> 2. me: I want a veggie pizza with Jalapeno topping

How did you decide that you wanted that? What if there was something else you could eat, like left-over or a new dish from some other restaurant? Are you sure you should be eating pizza, considering you should fast before tomorrow's blood tests? The friend that's coming over to eat with you is lactose intolerant, didn't you know?

> 3. @megabot --> @pizza_bot: "Ordering an Jalapeno pizza: Choose the brands from below a) Papa Johns b) Dominos c) Pizzahut"

I'm confused. Why only these 3 brands? What about "Tony's Pizzeria"? Why is Domino's in the suggestion, considering you didn't like their pizza last time you ordered?

> 4. me: Papa Johns

But you have a 50% off coupon for Pizza Hut that expires in 2 days!

> 6. me: 1 garlic dip + Pepsi 500 ml

How did you know they have that? You already have Pepsi in your fridge.

> 7. @megabot --> @pizza_bot: "Your order will be ready and will be delivered to the address. Please confirm"

How does he know where or when you want this pizza delivered?

> 9. me: I want to go to downtown.

What do you mean downtown? Surely, you're looking to go to some specific place. It is not usual to do downtown without a more specific motivation.

> 10. @megabot --> @taxi_bot: Shows map. Enter starting Location.

How come does the bot not know where you are?

> 12. @megabot --> @taxi_bot: Your driver will be arriving in 4 mins. via a) Uber b) Lyft

4 mins for either Uber or Lyft? That's odd. How do you choose which one is better? What about your roommate who's going downtown with his car in 10 minutes? There's heavy traffic, don't you think you should take public transportation instead?

> 15. me: I want to watch Spiderman 4 today evening.

How did you choose Spiderman 4? What about the other movies you might prefer? Do you know you didn't match Spiderman 3 yet? What about your brother who told you he'd be interested in going to watch Spiderman 4 with you at some point? How did you know you were free this evening? Shouldn't this interaction have started while you were looking at your agenda/calendar/timeline and thought of a way to fill that available time with entertainment?

> 16. @megabot --> @movie_bot: Spiderman 4 is playing in 4 theatres close to you. Please select from the following theatres. a) Sundance b) Rainbow c) AMC Also, the imdb rating is 9.4/10 and Rotten Tomato Rating is 7/10.

How do you know which of the 4 theatres is the best? What if you have a membership card to either of them with points and coupons? What if it's raining and some of theme is for from the nearest bus/subway station? What if you're meeting with a friend there, but he lives far from all 3 out of 4 theatres? Also, these ratings mean nothing as they don't consider your taste in movies.

> 18. @megabot --> @movie_bot: Please select the show times: a)7:30 pm b) 10:30 pm

Well, 7:30 is too early and 10:30 is too late. Why choose the theatre before the showtime?

> 20. me: I want groceries delivered via instacart

How did you decide to go with Instacart? What about alternative services which might be better for you?

> 22. me: I want my lawn mowed next Sunday via task rabbit.

Well, the weather is not very good Sunday and you might pay an extra to have it mowed. Why not Saturday? Your neighbor just bought some Roomba lawn mower robot thing, why don't you ask him instead? Surely, there are a lot of other people who could mow your lawn that aren't on Task Rabbit.

We can do much better than that. We won't get there through incremental progress. We need to rethink the whole communication thing.