The Future of Chatbots in the
Travel Industry
Prabh Simran Singh Baweja
Software Developer, Booking.com
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Agenda
1) What is a ChatBot?
2) Components of a ChatBot?
3) Demo
4) Challenges
5) How will they transform the Travel Industry?
6) How can you contribute?
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What is a ChatBot?
Wikipedia: A chatbot is a computer program or an artificial intelligence which
conducts a conversation via auditory or textual methods.
The term "ChatterBot" was originally coined by Michael Mauldin (creator of the
first Verbot, Julia) in 1994
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No content
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History of Chatbots
● 1966 - Eliza
● 1988 - Jabberwacky
● 2006 - IBM’s Watson
● 2010 - Siri
● 2012 - Google Now
● 2015 - Alexa
● 2015 - Cortona
● 2018 - Google Duplex
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Such programs are often designed to convincingly simulate how a human
would behave as a conversational partner, thereby passing the Turing test
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“A chatbot is not a program, it’s your friend”
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Components of a Chatbot
Natural Language Understanding System
● Language to a structured form
● Intent classification
● Extract details from text
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Language to a structured form
Hi, my name is Prabh, and this is the first time I am visiting Barcelona..
{
‘name’: Prabh,
‘country_name’: Spain,,
‘intent’: ??,
‘date’: 3rd September,, 2018
‘time’: timezone of Prabh,
}
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Intent Classification
Hi, my name is Prabh, and this is the first time I am visiting Barcelona..
1) Grammar Rules
2) Learning, Basic Rules
‘intent’: ‘greeting’
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Ambiguities
● I want to book a hotel at a beautiful location.
● I’d like to watch the night game.
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Natural Language
Understanding
?
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Components of a Chatbot
Mediator
● Interacts with the NLU
● Processes information sent from the NLU
● Interacts with the user
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NLU Interaction
● Sends messages to the brain.
● Processes the output from the brain.
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Mediator
● Frontend
● Backend
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User Interaction
● Frontend part
● Didn’t understand
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Session
● We don’t continue the topic we are talking about all the time.
● Switching Context
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Natural Language
Understanding
Mediator
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Natural Language
Understanding
Mediator
Backend
Mediator
Frontend
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Components of a Chatbot
Tools
● Don’t reinvent the wheel
● Third party features, designs
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Natural Language
Understanding
Mediator
Backend
Mediator
Frontend
Tools
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Chatbot
NLU
Tools
User
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Components of a Chatbot
● Natural Language Understanding System
● Mediator
● Tools
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Chatbot
NLU
Tools
User
“Hi, How are
you?”
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Chatbot
NLU
Tools
User
“I am good,
Thanks for
asking. How
are you?”
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Chatbot
NLU
Tools
User
“Book a flight
To NY"
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Chatbot
NLU
Tools
User
“Book a flight
To NY"
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Chatbot
NLU
Tools
User
“When”
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Chatbot
NLU
Tools
User
“When"
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Chatbot
NLU
Tools
User
“Tomorrow"
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Chatbot
NLU
Tools
User
Flight from
Barcelona to NY
tomorrow
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Chatbot
NLU
Tools
User
From: Barcelona
To: NY
Time: Tomorrow
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Chatbot
NLU
Tools
User
From: Barcelona
To: NY
Time: Tomorrow
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Chatbot
NLU
Tools
User
Results
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But….
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Personalization
● Likes/Dislikes
● Pattern
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Demo
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Challenges
“Book me a hotel in Colorado”
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Challenges
“Book me a hotel in Spain”
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Challenges
“I am looking for a hotel this weekend”
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Challenges
“I visited a hotel in New Zealand from 10th October to 15th October, and it was a
very good hotel and I loved the atmosphere, and ….”
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Challenges
“I visited this hotel, and it was the worst place I have ever been to, and …”
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Challenges
“Hi”
“My name is Prabh”
“I am from India”
“Hi, my name is Prabh, and I am from India”
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Challenges
“I would like to book a hotel in Barcelona or Madrid”
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Challenges
“Yo wadup, i wnt a hotl in brclona”
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Challenges
“Thank you”
“Welcome”
“I love you”
“Wow, awesome”
“You are the best”
“I like you too”
“Only like”
“Sorry, i don’t understand”
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Challenges
“Hotel en Barcelona esta noche”
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How will They Transform the Travel Industry?
The Power to transform business completely
● Support any Language
● Response Time
● The Power to Learn
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How will They Transform the Travel Industry?
I’d like to book a hotel in New York for the next weekend in a
wonderful place.
Here are some resorts for you. Do you want me to book a flight
and activities for you as well?
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How will They Transform the Travel Industry?
Hey Lisa, you haven’t been to a trip since a long time.
Do you want me to book a holiday home for you for
the next weekend? I can see some super deals for
those dates.
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How will They Transform the Travel Industry?
Hey Prabh, I know you had a bad breakup dude. I
had a chat with your friends and I am planning to
book a hotel for you guys to have some fun.
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How can you contribute?
Coding
● Understand
● Scenarios
● Develop