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Chatbot that overturned 160k parking fines now helping refugees claim asylum

theguardian.com

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Re: Chatbot that overturned 160k parking fines now helping refugees claim asylum

#71

Post by r00fus »

wutbrodo wrote: post #32
omash wrote: post #30

Can someone explain how the first chatbot was any better than an interactive form?

It's something I personally find very bizarre, but I've definitely noticed that a lot of people have a very strong mental block about doing things on a computer, or even a browser. These tasks instantly seem 10x more daunting, and people feel like they can mess it up easily. Chat interfaces that are thin wrappers over web forms don't provide any actual functional value, but on the basis of these observations I could…

So it's like a 90's-esque UI wizard?

Re: Chatbot that overturned 160k parking fines now helping refugees claim asylum

#72

Post by TYPE_FASTER »

omash wrote: post #30

Can someone explain how the first chatbot was any better than an interactive form?

I bet chatbots are more effective than forms. For a form to work, the user has to look around the page and figure out what to do. The chatbot is a back and forth discussion, but there's one place to look, and one question to answer.

It might not be as efficient for a user who has memorized keystrokes to work through, but more effective for first-time users.

Re: Chatbot that overturned 160k parking fines now helping refugees claim asylum

#73

Post by elastic_church »

r00fus wrote: post #71
wutbrodo wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's something I personally find very bizarre, but I've definitely noticed that a lot of people have a very strong mental block about doing things on a computer, or even a browser. These tasks instantly seem 10x more daunting, and people feel like they can mess it up easily. Chat interfaces that are thin wrappers over web forms don't provide any actual functional value, but on the basis of these observations I could…

So it's like a 90's-esque UI wizard?

before you know it we're going to be using chatrooms with pound signs for each channel and addressing users with @ symbols again

at least I don't have to wait for the mod to +v me. we'll have a chatbot for that

Re: Chatbot that overturned 160k parking fines now helping refugees claim asylum

#74

Post by usrusr »

taurath wrote: post #58
ptaipale wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course I don't blame anyone for being an economic migrant. It's a very natural thing to do: search for a better life. It's what I would do. Economic and technical development has progressed in Africa and Asia so that larger numbers of people than ever are able to consider migration. We see that now on the Libyan coast. However, particularly for European governments, it's now becoming visible that there is a select…

Absolutely true - if given the choice, most anyone would rather live in France than war torn Somalia. And given altruism doesn't work particularly well in unstable countries the current system is definitely in a bad state. Borders will have to be closed, as they marginally are now.

That, or we eventually get a dystopia/libertarian dreamworld where borders are replaced by walls around private properties, with a near infinite supply of bodies right at the gates, willing to do almost everything for scraps.

Depressing future scenarios like this make me miss the 1980ies, when popularly feared terrible futures had clearly good solutions ("don't blow up the planet") instead of a choice between two evils.

Re: Chatbot that overturned 160k parking fines now helping refugees claim asylum

#75

Post by olalonde »

usrusr wrote: post #74
taurath wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Absolutely true - if given the choice, most anyone would rather live in France than war torn Somalia. And given altruism doesn't work particularly well in unstable countries the current system is definitely in a bad state. Borders will have to be closed, as they marginally are now.

That, or we eventually get a dystopia/libertarian dreamworld where borders are replaced by walls around private properties, with a near infinite supply of bodies right at the gates, willing to do almost everything for scraps. Depressing future scenarios like this make me miss the 1980ies, when popularly feared terrible futures had clearly good solutions ("don't blow up the planet") instead of a choice between two evi…

What is dystopian about having walls around property? It's been that way ever since houses were invented.

Re: Chatbot that overturned 160k parking fines now helping refugees claim asylum

#76

Post by tedunangst »

r00fus wrote: post #71
wutbrodo wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's something I personally find very bizarre, but I've definitely noticed that a lot of people have a very strong mental block about doing things on a computer, or even a browser. These tasks instantly seem 10x more daunting, and people feel like they can mess it up easily. Chat interfaces that are thin wrappers over web forms don't provide any actual functional value, but on the basis of these observations I could…

So it's like a 90's-esque UI wizard?

Exactly. It had less "chatbot" functionality than zork did.

Re: Chatbot that overturned 160k parking fines now helping refugees claim asylum

#77

Post by Shubley »

exit wrote: post #14
elandybarr wrote: post #5

So what happens when all 10.5 million Somalians, 22.85 million Syrians, 24.41 million Yemenis, 33.42 millions Iraqis, 37.96 million Sudanese, 6.35 million Eritreans, 77.45 million Iranians, etc apply?

nationality is segregation

So is the lock on your front door.

Re: Chatbot that overturned 160k parking fines now helping refugees claim asylum

#78

Post by etjossem »

roywiggins wrote: post #55

I bet you could do a lot of good with an equivalent for eviction proceedings. Most people being evicted don't have representation.

The author may already be working on this. He "decided to expand the bot’s capabilities after DoNotPay began receiving messages about evictions and repossessions." [1] For now the evictions/homelessness feature seems to offer only assistance in applying for public housing.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/aug/11/chatbot-l... [1]

Re: Chatbot that overturned 160k parking fines now helping refugees claim asylum

#79

Post by vertex-four »

elastic_church wrote: post #73
r00fus wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So it's like a 90's-esque UI wizard?

before you know it we're going to be using chatrooms with pound signs for each channel and addressing users with @ symbols again at least I don't have to wait for the mod to +v me. we'll have a chatbot for that

You should check out Matrix[0]. :)

[0] https://matrix.org

Re: Chatbot that overturned 160k parking fines now helping refugees claim asylum

#80

Post by elastic_church »

vertex-four wrote: post #79
elastic_church wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

before you know it we're going to be using chatrooms with pound signs for each channel and addressing users with @ symbols again at least I don't have to wait for the mod to +v me. we'll have a chatbot for that

You should check out Matrix[0]. :) [0] https://matrix.org

hm, I wonder if they allow custom URIs, I'd like to change mine Freenode
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