Chatbot is a computer program which conducts a conversation via auditory or textual methods. Such programs are often designed to convincingly simulate how a human would behave as a conversational partner.

When any of the IMEX Frankfurt attendees at this year’s annual event for the global meetings industry needed to know the start time for a session, or where a particular exhibitor’s booth was located, they simply reached for their phones and asked Frank.

Frank, a feature in the event’s app, is an experimental chatbot that used artificial intelligence (AI) to interact with event attendees over messaging apps, and was capable of answering basic event questions via the event website and Facebook page. Armed with the goal of using “IMEX as a test bed for piloting new ideas under controlled and managed conditions and in a real-life environment,” IMEXlabs partnered with messaging platform Scen.sio to develop Frank.

Over the past five years, artificial intelligence and Chatbot machine learning have made substantial inroads into the mainstream and into our daily lives. Products such as Siri, Amazon Echo, and Google Home are fulfilling our desires for immediate answers, resolutions, and general information, and that has led to the surging popularity of chatbots. Messaging apps, including WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Slack, all incorporate some text-based AI to help us connect.

With the Chatbot / AI market expected to grow to $4.05 billion by 2020, according to research firm Markets and Markets, it is clear these new self-learning and ever-improving technologies have limitless potential in a variety of industries, including events and conferences.

From Skift.