#and emoji for a server (non disclosable)

[beluharts]

peoples !!

For the last few months I've been making a massive effort to draw a bunch of friends from a specific group I'm in !!

There are so many more,,, but few to be posted !!

Peraps more may be posted later !! For now enjoy these 9 other individuals characters and please check out their pages,,, a lot of them are super cool !!

It's funny how much inspiration you get when it isn't someone else's EXE OC or some official, unpaid work that you need to get done by a set deadline. Most of these were done in the same night if not the other half was done in another night. I genuinely think I'll have a blast drawing the next ones...

Here's hoping we reach 5 of these posts !! (with 10 individuals each time /j)

That's all for today, time to sleep for an uncanny amount of time !!

[gomangodigitalblog]

20 Most Powerful Chatbot Development Platform

Chatbots are the software that are automated to perform in a particular manner. They are configured to function for a particular purpose, mainly chat or in stimulating conversations. As chat is all about conversations or answering questions, chatbots should be able to pick conversational cadences and use machine learning to converse with customers. This article for 20 Most Powerful Chatbot Development Platform gives you an insight on the topic. When created in the right manner, chatbots can be plugged into several data sources so they can react to spoken or written stimulation.

Chatbots make use of Artificial Intelligence to chat with users and answer their queries, automatically.

Chatbots have different functionalities depending on the website in which they are functioning. In one website, the chatbot could function as customer service representative where it would give off current weather reports, in another website it would tell your customers when to expect your product and in some other website, it would answer all customer queries.

This brings us to the question: Would using chatbots be influential to the business? The answer is, of course, YES.

Look at Facebook or any other brand’s messaging apps and you will know it. These are powerful chatbots through which customers engage with the brand of their choice and enjoy digital experiences that mirror in-person conversation.

Non-Coding Chatbot Platforms

1. Chatfuel

Target platforms:Telegram and Facebook Messenger

Estimated number of chatbots using Chatfuel:46,000+

Top examples: Adidas, MTV, British Airways, Volkswagen

Price:Free with basic features; Chatfuel Pro ($30/month) with advanced features is also available

The Chatfuel builder platform is offered by a company based in San Francisco. The platform was released in 2015 and provides easy-to-use resources with drag-and-drop feature. The simplicity of the platform makes it an ideal platform for beginners or any business that wants a chatbot to perform basic roles. Chatfuel chatbots work on pre-defined coded rules and serve clients accordingly.

2. Botsify

Target platforms: Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Instagram

Estimated number of chatbots Using Botsify: 40,000 plus

Top examples: Apple, Shazam, Grin, Travelex, RemoteInterview, Unicef NZ

Botsify is another popular chatbot platform and is offered by a company based in Santa Clara, CA. Using its custom templates for travel, restaurant booking, etc., along with drag-and-drop functionalities, anyone can create bots effortlessly without writing a single line of code. Even the free version comes with 20 templates. The number increases as you upgrade. Botsify provides human takeover ability for a smooth transition from a bot to a human, and users can make use of emojis in their conversations.

3. Flow Xo

Target platform: WhatsApp Web, Facebook Messenger, Slack, Telegram, Twilio SMS

Estimated number of chatbots using Flow Xo:Not available

Top examples: Not available

Price:Free, Standard ($19/month), further upgradable to handle more interactions

This chatbot platform is offered by Flow Xo, a technology company based in England. It offers templates and tools that you need to create a talking bot. You can run and test the functionalities of your bot with built-in test console. There is a provision for you to connect with your customers over voice and chat whenever required in between the conversation.

4. KITT.AI

Target platform:Alexa, Facebook Messenger, Kik, Skype, Slack, Telegram, Twilio

Estimated number of chatbots Using KITT.AI: Not available

Top examples: UPS

Price: Free

This chatbot platform is owned by China’s search giant Baidu and is based in Washington. It’s equipped with hot word detection (no internet required), semantic parsing, natural language understanding, a conversational engine (multi-turn support) and a neural network-powered machine learning model. It offers a repository of features and tools that can be used with a drag-and-drop interface. KITT.AI supports an array of use cases including home automation and commerce and can be integrated with web and mobile apps with ease. It provides a complete set of tools that can be utilized to build standalone chatbot for businesses.

Coding Chatbot Platforms5. IBM Watson

Target platform: Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Instagram

Estimated number of chatbots using IBM Watson:Not available

Top examples: Staples, H&R Block, Autodesk

Price: Lite (USD 0), Standard ($0.0025 (USD) per API call), Premium (price not disclosed)

IBM Watson is a preferred chatbot development platform when it comes to building an AI chatbot that can handle a complex conversation with ease. According to Chatbots Journal, IBM Watson is the bot-building platform for 61% of businesses. It can process around four terabytes of data and is hosted on a cluster of 90 IBM Power 750 servers, each using a 3.5 GHz POWER7 eight-core processor.

Chatbot developers can leverage a wide range of technology frameworks like Node SDK (Software Development Kit), Java SDK, Python SDK, iOS SDK, Salesforce SDK and Unity SDK to make IBM Watson with different platforms. An IBM Watson chatbot can serve different verticals including customer engagement, education, financial services, health, IoT, media, HR and workplaces.

6. Microsoft Bot Framework

Target platform: Website, App, Cortana, Microsoft Teams, Skype, Slack, Facebook Messenger

Estimated number of chatbots using Microsoft Bot Framework: Not available

Top Examples:UPS

Price:Standard channels (Free), Premium ($0.50 per 1,000 messages)

Offered by Microsoft, Azure Bot Service provides a scalable, integrated connectivity and development service to help developers create intelligent bots that can engage users across multiple platforms. The development tools are provisioned with the Microsoft Bot Builder SDK that .NET and Node.js developers can access and use to create an engaging talking bot.

The SDK also includes an emulator for debugging your bots, as well as a large set of sample bots you can use as building blocks. The cloud-based service is globally accessible across 141 countries, and bots can communicate in multiple languages including English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Japanese, Korean and Chinese.

7. Wit.ai

Target platform:Website, App, Cortana, Microsoft Teams, Skype, Slack, Facebook Messenger

Estimated number of chatbots using Wit.ai:Not available

Top examples:UPS

Price:Standard channels (Free), Premium ($0.50 per 1,000 messages)

Wit.ai is a Palo Alto, CA-based technology company. The NLP-powered chatbot builder offers resources to create engaging, scalable chatbots to serve different purposes. Wit.ai learns human language through every interaction and leverages the community to evolve and improve further.

Chatbots with Wit.ai support 50+ languages and developers have the flexibility to use any of the available SDKs like Android, iOS, Cordova, HTML, JavaScript, Node.js, .NET, Unity, Xamarin, C++, Python, Ruby, PHP, Epson Moverio, Botkin and Java.

8. Semantic Machines

Target platform:Website, App, Cortana, Microsoft Teams, Skype, Slack, Facebook Messenger

Estimated number of chatbots using Semantic Machines:Not available

Top Examples: UPS

Price: Not available

Semantic Machines is an AI development company with offices in Berkeley, CA and Boston, MA. It offers a language-independent technology platform that goes beyond understanding commands and understands conversations. The conversational engine in the Semantic Machines can deal with text and speech and can absorb knowledge from users to enhance its capabilities.

Semantic Machines supports a wide range of use cases ranging from business productivity, customer acquisition and customer service for travel, e-commerce, concierge, search, automotive, and beyond.

9. Reply.ai

Target platform: Cortana, Microsoft Teams, Skype, Slack, Facebook Messenger

Estimated number of chatbots using Reply.ai: Not Available

Top examples: Samsung, Coca-Cola, KIA, Hilton, Ad Council

Price: Not available

Reply.ai is a visual bot builder powered by NLP engines and it specifically targets the insurance sector. The company operates in NYC and Spain. Reply.ai can help with advanced use cases to help insurance companies optimize their sales, marketing and customer service operations and reduce costs. It has extended its services to enterprises as well as a cross-industry enterprise solution.

10. ManyChat

Target platform: Facebook Messenger

Estimated number of chatbots using ManyChat: 150,000

Top examples:Not available

Price: Free and paid ($15/month with advanced features)

ManyChat is packed with important tools that make chatbot development easier and faster. With an easy-to-use API, anyone can integrate or embed it on their website. It has an effective subscriber tool that makes it easier for the chatbot owner to find more users and push the brand’s reach. With a basic ManyChat chatbot platform, it’s easy to welcome new users, schedule posts, market content, set up keyword auto-responses (text, pictures, menus), automatically broadcast your RSS feed and much more.

11. Smooch

Smooch acts as a connector between messenger apps like WeChat, Line, Facebook Messenger and business apps like Front, Zendesk, Scout and few others.

Once Smooch is configured, it would let your business app get all the incoming chat notifications sent by the messaging apps. Smooch lets you answer all the queries/conversations coming in from customers right from the business app itself.

Chatbot connectors (Smooch comes with connectors) let you create chatbots and connect them to the messaging channel of your choice to start conversation with your customers. This would help you to automate common workflows like collecting form data, conducting checkout processes, giving feedback and scheduling.

12. Facebook Messenger Platform

The landing page of Facebook Messenger Platform has an option that lets you build your own bot. However, it calls for a small level of expertise, but there are plenty of resources like case studies, guides, forums with skilled Facebook developers that would help you create chatbots.

With this platform, people no longer need to download an app to chat with you. You can reach them, irrespective of which platform or device they use.

Before you start with this platform, however, you need to configure tools like Messenger plugin, Messenger codes, a Welcome screen, customer matching, etc. If you are looking for examples on how well this can be done, check out Poncho and CNN.

13. ChattyPeople

If you are looking to create a good and functional AI chatbot platform on Facebook, then ChattyPeople is perfect. You don’t need coding knowledge to create an FB message with ChattyPeople.

It is extremely simple to create, probably the reason why entrepreneurs and smaller companies rely on it to stay with their customers 24/7. If you run an e-commerce website, then it can answer customer service questions and monetize your Facebook pages.

The exciting news is ChattyPeople is free.

14. Beep Boop

Beep Boop is a simple hosting platform made for developers who need to integrate their chatbots with Facebook Messenger and Slack. It needs only a few minutes for setup and installation. You can visit Github, the famous version control repository and Internet hosting service to set up the code. Post that integrate the code with Beep Boop platform before linking it with your FB or Slack application.

You can use the coding language that you are comfortable with and once you follow the steps correctly, your chatbot will be ready to chat with your customers using real-time messaging API. After it is up and running, you can perform analytics to check its performance.

Beep Boop is a paid platform.

15. DigitalGenius

DigitalGenius developed Human + AI Customer Service. It’s not exactly a chatbot platform but rather a deep learning agent efficiency tool that works in any language. AI predicts case metadata and suggests the right answers to your customer service agents. AI learns from every agent interaction. It leverages a deep neural network model, word vectors, statistical operations and deep learning algorithms. Human + AI Customer Service installs as a layer into existing customer service software like Salesforce, Zendesk, etc.

16. Pypestream

Pypestream’s Smart Messaging Platform uses a patented framework of ‘Pypes’ and ‘Streams’ for natural language processing and keyword parsing. An open and flexible API platform allows custom integrations and development of third-party connectors, plugins and extensions. The platform includes Smart Messaging Framework, Pypeconnect SDK, Pypemanager, the Pypestream mobile app, as well as API plug-ins and integrations. By April 2016, the company had 500 businesses signed up and using the messaging platform, including Washington Gas and Billboard.

17. Pandorabots

The Pandorabots API allows you to integrate a bot hosting service and natural language processing engine into your own application. Developed SDKs are Java, Node.js, Python, Ruby, PHP and Go. Pandorabots uses AIML (Artificial Intelligence Markup Language) and includes A.L.I.C.E. (The Artificial Linguistic Internet Computer Entity) — a natural language processing chatterbot. It is multilingual.

Common use cases include advertising, virtual assistance, e-learning, entertainment and education. Academics and universities use the platform for teaching and research. Pandorabots is an AIaaS platform — Artificial Intelligence as a Service.

18. AgentBot

AgentBot was specially developed for Latin America so it supports English, Spanish and Portuguese languages. It uses Aivo’s own natural language processing technology. The platform understands natural language, has memory to maintain coherence during long conversations, gathers customer information to deliver customized solutions, applies continuous evolution and also clarifies intents. AgentBot integrates with any CRM, internal system, human chat, or third-party application. REST API is used for integration.

19. Chatscript

ChatScript is the next generation chatbot engine that has won the Loebner’s 4 times and is the basis for natural language company for a variety of tech startups. ChatScript is a rule-based engine. Rules are created in program scripts through a process called dialog flow scripting. These use a scripting metalanguage (a script) as their source code.

ChatScript engine has many features like powerful pattern matching aimed at detecting meaning, simple rule layout combined with C-style general scripting, built-in WordNet dictionary, extensive extensible ontology, local machine control via popen/tcpopen/jsonopen, structured JSON data reading from websites and others.

ChatScript runs on Windows, Linux, Mac, iOS or Android. It has integrated tools to support maintaining and testing large systems. UTF8 support allows scripts written in any language. ChatScript works under the MIT License.

20. Newer startups

Platforms like IBM Watson, Microsoft Bot Framework, Api.ai, ChatScript and Pandorabots were developed about more than 10 years ago. Therefore, their experience provides the most advanced tools and offers the most flexible solutions for businesses. These platforms make it possible to use different programming languages.

Each platform has developed its own SDKs, uses cutting edge data processing and analysis, technologies, supports dozens of natural languages and are already embedded in customer services, sales, marketing, order processing, social media, payment, recruitment and other industries. Just the same, many startups were created over the last few years. Some of them grow fast and are already well-known.

CONCLUSION

With the help of these tools, chatbot development is a piece of cake. And, do you know what the real icing on the cake is? The fact is that people/consumers/customers are ready to speak to chatbots.

Therefore, the stir they have caused is already a sensational and not without a good reason. These bots give you the power to communicate with your customers promptly and naturally.

If it is necessary for your business to create a chatbot, hundreds of various chatbot-building platforms are available. There are tools that are centered on a domain-specific topic or universal tools, platforms that allow you to program your chatbot using SDKs, platforms that do not require coding, and environments that support English or your primary language. There are both paid and free platforms available.