In April 2016, Facebook launched an open version of Messenger which invited developers to create artificial intelligence chatbots that would interact with Facebook users. The excitement that followed was immediate, and by June 2016, 11,000 bots had been made available.
Chatbots were predicted to change the way consumers and brands interacted. Interactions like calling a company’s customer service line and punching in a number to select a menu option, or locating a confirmation email and printing the confirmation code, were going to be replaced by the help of brand chatbots.
