“Bots” have been around for decades. Recently, however, it’s become the norm for large technology companies to build, support and develop bots for a wide variety of uses. Because bots can be so many different things, it’s often difficult to parse the bona fides from the wannabes — or even determine what bots do.
What exactly are bots?
“A bot is an autonomous machine interface that’s built to serve a purpose that traditionally was served by a human,” says Michael Facemire, a principal analyst with Forrester Research.