bots and me

With AIs like chat GPT and websites like character.ai, bots are becoming more prominent in the public eye. However, AI has been around for much longer than just recently, though they have perhaps gone under the radar. When people talk to Alexa, Siri or their Google Homes, they’re not generally conscious they’re talking to a bot. It registers more as a glorified search engine. In my personal life I use a lot of bots: like in my discord servers that let me listen to music with my friends or when I unfortunately get spam emails and messages those are also bots contacting me. I get calendar and appointment reminders from bots and if I have an issue on a website there is usually a query bot I have to speak to, to get help, like on Amazon, for example.

It’s hard to imagine how else bots could be introduced into our lives, but it’s only a matter of time before they consume every part of the modern experience. I think generally bots can be helpful in making the internet a more accessible place to people with disabilities, such as blindness, and I hope in the future this improves to become more helpful and more accessible to a wider range of disabilities.