CHATBOTS EXPLAINED: Why Facebook and other tech companies think they're the biggest thing since the iPhone

Flickr/Peyri Herrera

Chatbots are the future, whether we're ready for them or not. 

On Tuesday, Facebook launched Bots for Messenger, a step that could define the next decade in the same way that the Apple App Store launch paved the path for companies like Uber to build a business off your phone. Its new messaging platform will help businesses build intelligent chatbots to let them communicate in Messenger.

"Today could be the beginning of a new era," said Facebook Messenger chief David Marcus.

So what are these chatbots, and why is everyone obsessed?

So, what's a chatbot?

In the simplest terms, it's a piece of software that you chat with to get things done or be entertained.

Think of it as a replacement for all of the apps you have downloaded. Instead of opening the weather app to see the temperature, you can ask a bot and it will tell you the weather instead. 

Eventually, a single chatbot could become your own personal assistant to take care of everything, whether it's calling you an Uber or setting up a meeting. Or, Facebook Messenger or another platform might let a bunch of individual chatbots to talk to you about whatever is relevant — a chatbot from Southwest Airlines could tell you your flight's delayed, another chatbot from FedEx could tell you your package is on the way, and so on.

Oh, and they're not actually robots behind the software. Some chatbots even have humans that help them answer tricky questions.

Wait, haven't these been around for awhile?

They have, actually dating back to the 1960s! If you used AIM or other chat platforms, you've probably had conversations with bots like Smarter Child.

But they were always for fun and weren't quite as useful as the bots that companies like Facebook and Microsoft are so excited about. 

Many people think we're finally at the point where chatbots can be more than entertaining or useful for simple requests, so that's why people are getting obsessed.

So this chatbot business is the hot new thing in tech?

It's definitely being hyped up, but at the same time they could radically change the way we use our phones and the computer. That's because chatbots unlock "conversation as a platform," as Microsoft CEO Nadella put it. 

We've trained ourselves to click through apps or search in weird phrases to get the information we want. You wake up thinking "I wonder if it will rain today" and instead you have to open an app and search with your zip code to see if it's raining.

Chatbots could change everything about how you surf the web. In the future, you could just say "I wonder if it will rain today" and a chatbot would know your location and be able to answer conversationally whether you should bring an umbrella. No apps. No search box.