Bots were originally designed to automate repetitive tasks like organizing content or conducting network maintenance. They can also be used to operate large numbers of fake accounts, which makes them ideal for manipulating people. Bots have proved to be one of the best ways to broadcast extremist viewpoints on social media. Propagandists would mobilize armies of them to flood the internet with posts and replies in an attempt to overwhelm genuine democratic discourse.
The average bot does little to conceal its robotic character, and a quick look at its patterns of tweeting, or even its profile picture, can give it away. The next generation of bots is rapidly evolving, however. Owing in large part to advances in natural-language processing, these bots will behave a lot more like real people. In a few years, conversational bots might seek out susceptible users and approach them over private chat channels.
The is a new form of artificial intelligence. The technology is being used by political parties to communicate with each other. It is also being used to develop their candidates for the 2016 presidential election. It has the potential to be used as a tool to teach people how to speak in a more natural way. But the technology is still in its early stages, and it’s not clear how it will be used in the future.
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