June 24: Chatbot

 Chatbot

What is a Chatbot?

A chatbot is a computer program designed to simulate conversations with human users over the internet. In other words, it's a tool that helps add convenience for customers—they are automated programs that interact with customers like a human would and cost little to nothing to engage with.For example, if you have a question about what a restaurant serves on its menu and you go to message the restaurant through their facebook page, you could most likely be connected to a chatbot at first to help answer your questions. 

Code Summary 

This is a the code I used to design my chatbot. The goal for my chatbot was to provide movie recommendations to users that want to know what to watch. You would first ask it for movie recommendations than it would ask you the specific genre. After typing the genre it would give you 3-5 movies that fall under that topic. You can also ask the chatbot "how are you" and if you ask the chatbot anything it doesn't know, it simply responds with "I don't have a real answer, but I'm learning!".  

ChatFuel

We used Chatfuel to create a live chatbot that can communicate with a human user when it interacts with my facebook page. I followed a tutorial to create a simple chatbot for a restaurant: it answers questions about the menu and can connect you to a employee by providing a number. 

Flows and Issues With Chatbot

A flow in chatbot design refers to the structured sequence of interactions between the user and the bot, guiding the conversation towards a specific goal or outcome. It involves planning the possible paths a conversation can take, including user inputs and bot responses. Some pitfalls in creating a chatbot include handling unexpected user inputs, ensuring the bot understands context, and maintaining user engagement. In addition, managing conversations that go off-script can be challenging, leading to potential user frustration if the bot fails to provide relevant responses.