Emerging Technologies: Conversational AI, voice and chat bots

For our second episode we’re talking innovation with Rob Leyland from our emerging technology team. You’ll hear why Rob thinks innovation needs to be less ‘futurology’ and more practical, how CRUK are tackling conversational AI and voice, and Rob’s take on some of the ethical implications of changing technology for the charity sector. Follow Rob on Twitter: https://twitter.com/robliteration?lang=en-gb CRUK Technology Team Blog: https://crukdigitalteam.blogspot.com/ My Alcohol Tracker Alexa skill: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cancer-Research-UK-Alcohol-Tracker/dp/B076HP287V Rob quotes a few stats and trends around voice in this episode. If you’re wondering where we keep up to date on developments in the world of voice and chatbots, here are some great places to start: Voicebot.ai (https://voicebot.ai/) Chatbots Life (https://chatbotslife.com/) Chatbots Magazine (https://chatbotsmagazine.com/) Rob also mentions online resources that charities can use to get started with conversational AI. Here are some we’ve used and found useful, from options for internal prototyping at low or no cost, right up to scaling to public release. Before you get started, make sure you check the terms of use (particularly regarding data) and commercial terms, so you know they’re right for you and your use of the software. Voice apps: Amazon Alexa Skills Kit: https://developer.amazon.com/alexa-skills-kit Actions on Google: https://developers.google.com/actions/ Chatbots: Easy to build, no code, button only chatbots: Landbot (https://landbot.io/) No code chatbots with some natural language processing (i.e. allow users to free type): Chatfuel (https://chatfuel.com/) Botsify (https://botsify.com/) Coded chatbots with powerful AI capabilities: Microsoft Bot Framework (https://dev.botframework.com/) (Training videos available here: https://mva.microsoft.com/en-US/training-courses/getting-started-with-bots-16759?l=2zTAb2HyC_3504668937)