Hi Tobias, thanks for your thought provoking comment!

Maybe a quick example could illustrate this: suppose you see a person going on a fishing expedition. This person hires a boat, and then…

Hi Tobias, thanks for your thought provoking comment! My take on this super important question is that we have the expertise to do it, but the problem is that the expertise is wrong headed. What I mean by that is that we’ve been (and still are) barking up the wrong tree.

Maybe a quick example could illustrate this: suppose you see a person going on a fishing expedition. This person hires a boat, and then sails out on the open ocean, hoping to catch some fish. But he didn’t realize that he’ll need fishing gear, so he returns empty handed from his expedition. That person lacks fishing expertise.

Imagine now a different person, who goes and gets all the appropriate fishing gear, and then embarks on a fishing expedition. So this person possesses fishing expertise. But for some peculiar reason, that person travels to Sahara desert, where he pitches all his fishing nets and rods and bait etc. He will still return empty handed from his fishing expedition. So despite the fact that he has the expertise, his expertise is wrong headed.

This is how I see current efforts being invested in building bots. The expertise is there, but it’s wrong headed. So to resolve this stalemate, we need to work on reorienting people’s efforts and pointing them at the right, fertile field. Once there, bot devs will know what to do, but while they’re trying to catch fish in a desert, nothing useful will come out of that effort.

So how then to do this reorientation? To begin with, realize that your present focus on building tools and utilities to assist human experts is not a fertile ground for bots. That’s a fertile ground for apps. Absolutely nothing wrong with that, but let’s not confuse that with bots.

Realize that bots are just another word for digital experts. Focus on building software services that can deliver the expertise without expecting its users to guide it every step of the way. Right there you see how bots are not about asking humans: “okay, now what shall I do next?” Bots are about telling humans: “okay, I understands that you want me to do [fill in the blanks].” Then the bot goes away and comes back with fully fleshed product/service. The bot is equipped with the expertise to do all the necessary legwork and perform all the needed heavy lifting, thus relieving the human users from those chores.