Daum Soft is a division of Korea’s famous Daum internet portal. Daum which means ‘Next’ has a homepage similar to Yahoo’s but has managed to hold their ground against Google’s attempts on their search market share thanks largely to their question and answer search results that provide results more suited to Koreans needs.
Daum Soft has developed the Daum Dialogue Robot [Video] that is similar to an internet chat bot. The Dialogue Robot is already being used on sites such as KT Mobile, iBuddy, and online shopping. The robot acts as a guide for the website and provides a variety of information when asked. The Dialogue Robot usually can be found masquerading as some sort of cute aviator, such as KT Mobile’s creepy ‘Cat in a suit’.
Although Daum Soft will no doubt do a great job of providing high quality bot’s to assist web surfers the technology is hardly new, and the Dialogue Robot failed to impress. It performed well with basic conversation, and cutely replied that it was software when asked if it was a boy or girl. However, when asked about the weather it did not know, the Daum Soft booth did not have their internet connected properly.
Daum Soft envisions their Dialogue Robot acting as a virtual financial consultant, salesmen, and tutor. They also see the Dialogue Robot acting as an artificial intelligence for Robots, navigation systems, and household electrical goods. They have a long way to go before their dream becomes a reality, today the Dialogue Robot is simply a helpful addition to websites, quickly providing a wealth of information. The Dialogue Robot is a step forward but don’t expect it to change the world anytime soon.
