Software Can Sort Incoming Messages
Mobile applications (apps) were downloaded 204 billion times in 2019 (the last year that we have data for). The Google Play Store featured 257 million different apps at the end of 2019. The average smartphone user has 88 apps on their phone, according to Statista.com. Top Android app categories, according to the same company, were:
- tools,
- communication and
- business.
Those apps beg for user interaction, but also can be laden with extraneous communications that don’t need immediate attention. With the near-universal availability of Android Auto in new cars, it’s not surprising that it’s used by many drivers as the main app for communication while in a vehicle. That, of course, leads to the inevitable challenge of driving vs. distraction. Should every text ping the driver as he or she navigates a stressful commute? A new app has just launched that applies artificial intelligence (AI) to find a middle ground that satisfies the need to communicate while also keeping distractions to a minimum.
Beerud Sheth, founder and CEO of Gupshup, has launched a company that is gaining traction around the world and may be making in-roads in the U.S. soon. He’s also taken the recent step of democratizing his technology by launching a series of free online webinars and meetups to spread the message of AI’s potential in messaging. The company is offering its open-source software to others to build their own AI “bots” to advance this new type of messaging.
Building Smart Bots
Sheth’s goal is simple and particularly critical for the automotive market. In summary, his app will make it easier to get an important message without the distraction of many other less important ones. His app, which is currently available for Android phones in the Google Play Store from OnePlus Ltd., promises to categorize and classify messages, then create simple, easy-to-read summaries that can enable simple actions. For instance, you could get a text about renewing your auto insurance with an online link to initiate payment, so you could make sure coverage doesn’t lapse while you’re in the car. Similarly, this app could make sure annoying texts don’t come through to interrupt a drive. Other potential options are a feature that could eliminate messages for certain times, either when you are just getting on the road or after you’ve been on the road for a defined amount of time.
As Sheth says, this app adds “a layer of intelligence onto a messaging app,” one of the first major changes to messaging in decades. In addition, the AI is resident in the app, not in the cloud, allowing a level of personalization not seen to date in messaging. Through AI, automated responses can also become a part of the app, further reducing distraction behind the wheel.
Smarter in the Car
The effect is to translate the desktop email experience to the mobile world, where Sheth says messaging is one of the most heavily used apps. The in-car world that relies on speech recognition will potentially benefit from these advances as well, so as the AI in the messaging app better understands natural language, it will be able to respond appropriately. The driver should be able to communicate in the car with the same efficiency as in the office. This is a case where bots can help.
