> Now consult doctors on Facebook Messenger with Lybrate’s chatbot

Facebook Messenger now has an option for users in India to get health tips and advice from Lybrate’s chatbot. Lybrate is an online platform that lets users consult doctors, and the service claims to have over 100,000 doctors as part of its portal.

Facebook had announced chatbots for its Messenger app where users will be able to connect with businesses. Lybrate’s bot on Messenger will help people get answers to their health-related queries.

@lybrate (New Delhi)

References:

- yourstory.com/tag/lybrate

> Five Indian start-ups using bots in different ways

1)

Fynd, a fashion discovery app, is going to launch a bot called “Fify” on Facebook Messenger next week to help users discover more products.

@gofynd

- yourstory.com/tag/fynd

2)

Niki.ai offers an app where users can chat with a bot to order cabs from ride-hailing services Uber and Ola, recharge their phones and order from Burger King.

@talktoniki

- yourstory.com/tag/niki-ai

3)

Lawbot, a Chennai-based company, offers a bot that can analyse legal contracts and point out potential risk areas, and suggest how the terms can be improved.

@surukam (AlgoLegal)

- yourstory.com/tag/lawbot

4)

Skedool.it, which has offices in India and the US, offers an AI-powered bot assistant for professionals to schedule their meetings.

@Skedoolit

- yourstory.com/tag/skedool
- yourstory.com/tag/skedoolit

5)

This month, (Webaroo Inc.) launched Gupshup.io, a platform for developers to build, deploy and manage bots.

@gupshup
@webarooinc

- yourstory.com/tag/gupshup
- yourstory.com/tag/webaroo

> morph.ai @morph_ai (Gurgaon, Haryana)

Morph.ai is a platform that can be used to connect the current technical infrastructure behind an app or a web-service to the conversational touchpoints of the company like Facebook Messenger, SMS, Twitter, Slack, live-chat, in-app chat etc. where their customers can use brand services over chat.

> fify.ai (Mumbai, Maharashtra)

I’m Fify. World’s first intelligent. Fashion Shopping Bot. Fify from Fynd. Read Blog. I Love Fashion! “I will keep you updated with. latest trends in fashion” ...

Video:
- Fify - World’s First Fashion Shopping Botfriend

> Hate Siri? Meet Viv - the future of chatbots and artificial intelligence

If you haven’t seen it yet, I talk about chatbots in India in the Sunday Sydney Morning Herald, above.

> Do Your Banking with a Chatbot

People in India can now open an account with a bank that’s only accessible via mobile devices. Called Digibank, it’s staffed by chatbots intelligent enough to answer thousands of questions submitted via chat.

The machine-learning-based technology is a product of Kasisto, a New York startup that spun out of the company that created Apple’s Siri assistant. Kasisto trained its KAI artificial-intelligence platform with millions of questions asked by customers during their banking experiences.

> Ratan Tata invests in chatbot

Ratan Tata, chairman emeritus of Tata Sons, has invested an undisclosed amount in niki.ai, an artificial intelligence-based chatbot, a company founded by four IIT-Kharagpur alumni.

References:
- yourstory.com/tag/niki-ai

> Helpchat Now Doesn’t Have a Chat Anymore

Helpchat also reportedly fired all of its chat team (which according to unconfirmed reports includes 150 individuals, given three month’s worth of pay in advance). The move is completely opposite of the general start-up trends not just in India but globally.
...
Helpchat which claims to be India’s highest rated personal assistant app follows its second share of firing with this round after firing 112 employees last October.

References:
- yourstory.com/tag/helpchat

> Meru’s new chatbot helps you book cabs on Facebook Messenger

“Meru’s entire range of taxi services will now be accessible to Facebook users via Facebook Messenger and will allow them to book cabs using key words and conversational question-answers through the service called Meru Messenger Bot,” the company said in a press release.

References:
- yourstory.com/tag/meru-cabs

> How a bunch of Indian startups have taken an early lead in chatbots

While [Sachin] Jaiswal [cofounder of Niki.ai] might be content with one chatbot, others want multiple bots. Aarti Gill is one of them. The cofounder of FitCircle, a chat-based health and fitness platform, boasts 32,000 bot users. Gill, who launched her first bot in November last year, now has five of them, each performing a different task. If one helps users with personalised workouts in yoga and for weight loss, another focuses on diet and nutrition advice, with expert intervention wherever required.

References:
- yourstory.com/tag/prepathon
- yourstory.com/tag/purplle
- yourstory.com/tag/niki-ai
- yourstory.com/tag/fitcircle

See also:
- economictimes.indiatimes.com/topic/bots

> India is primed for the chatbot revolution

While those in the Western world were first exposed to the Internet through web pages on the desktop, Indians came online through WhatsApp. Today, if you want to stay in touch with your family and friends, you need WhatsApp. The phrase “WhatsApp me” has replaced the phrase “call me” or “message me” for millions of Indians. The welcoming green interface, with its ubiquitous “Type a message” bar at the bottom is our home on the Internet. That innocuous radio ad made me realize that India is ready for the chatbot revolution.

> Arnav Patel is an intern at TARS, a chatbot company in Bangalore.

- hellotars.com (@hellotars_ai)

Reference:

- Tars:// A Whatsapp-Based On-Demand Assistance For Everything

> The rise of the chatbots - Times of India (Sep 2016)

> India’s First Chat Bot For Smart Banking YES TAG Crosses 10,000 Transactions

Yes Bank customers can download YES TAG and enjoy seamless Chat Banking on five messaging platforms: Facebook Messenger, Twitter, Skype, Telegram and WeChat

> facebook.com/groups/ChatbotsBengaluru (Chatbot Developers Bangalore)

For all Bangaloreans involved with natural language processing, artificial intelligence and Facebook Messenger chatbots.

> facebook.com/groups/1737856086491852 (Chatbot Developers Chennai)

This group is introduced for chatbot developers around chennai in the platform of e.g. Messenger, Slack or any other bot platform.

> facebook.com/groups/294578440878948 (Chatbot Developers Hyderabad)

This group is introduced for chatbot developers around hyderabad in the platform of e.g. Messenger, Slack or any other bot platform.