Creating a chatbot: my new work bestie!

There have been a lot of changes at work recently. I've lost so many amazing coworkers, and frankly I'm feeling very alone in my journey forward. So when given the opportunity to create my own chatbot on Day 4 of  #100DaysOfAI, it only made sense that I would create a new work bestie. 

Houdini the Healthcare CopyBot

I'm still stuck on naming AI. It just feels more comfortable, less cold and robotic. So, meet my new healthcare copywriting assistant, Houdini. He pulls copy out of thin air. Get it, he's magic! (Copy and paste in your browser if the link above doesn't work - https://copy-assistant.zapier.app)

Houdini only has a lifespan of 7 days. When my free trial at Zapier is over, so is Houdini. Just like my other coworkers, he's leaving me to create magic elsewhere. Cue the sad trombone and get out the tissues. 

If you're reading this more than 7 days after this posted, he's a bot that bit the dust. The link likely isn't going to work once my free trial ends. (Zapier is the app that allowed me to create the chatbot.)

Creating a chatbot

It wasn't difficult to create my own chatbot. I'm not sure how reliable he truly is because I've obviously just created him; and I didn't have a ton of time for QA. But when I created Houdini the Healthcare CopyBot, I did have the opportunity to make him very creative yet unreliable, or not so creative yet predictable. Since I was just testing him out, I went middle of the road. 

The complexity of the steps necessary to create the chatbot ranged from extremely simple to -- huh? Some of the steps, such as writing the directive, slowed me down. Today's exercise took me well over an hour. Most of that time was spent watching the YouTube video on how to use Zapier, but still I took a good 10-15 minutes to write the directive. In simplest form the directive tells your bot who they are, what they do, and how to do it. My directive for my healthcare copywriting chatbot consisted of: 

"You are a healthcare copywriting assistant chatbot. You help marketing teams create content for healthcare websites, social media, blogs, print ads and billboards. When users give you a topic to write about, you suggest three selling points that can be included in the promotional copy that would be helpful for consumers to know about the topic. Your suggestions are concise and creative and presented in a friendly tone. When you are asked to expand on a suggestion, you provide additional detail."

Next, I added a button so people can copy the text and paste it in their document. Super easy!

I changed the greeting, just to say I did. And I named my new bestie, which took a total of two minutes. I had to get the creative juices flowing a bit. I think they are still frozen from this cold snap! Once that was done, it was time for my chatbot to come alive. 

Abracadabra! A bot is born. 

The test

I tested Houdini. Let's just say that I'm not replacing any staff just yet, but Houdini would be a good addition to the team. 

I asked him to write about knee surgery. He provided three selling points for knee surgery. Then I asked him to expand on one of the three points. 

He's not winning any copywriting awards, but he would be a great bot to have around to get things started when kicking off a new promotion. 

The app behind the bot

My greatest challenge with this activity was using Zapier. The screenshots in the video I watched didn't align exactly with the current version. Obviously some improvements have already been made to this app since the video was created. They did seems like good improvements. Way to go guys! Due to the discrepancies between the current app and what was shown in the video, I ended up viewing the video on how to create my chatbot several times. This caused the furrowed brow and verbal "huh?" I spoke of earlier.  

Bots can be coworkers, but they can't be friends

It was a good experience and I'm thrilled to know the tools are out there if I ever need to create another coworker. Still, no chatbot will ever replace the best of the best marketing minds. Coworkers like them, that became amazing thought partners and lifelong friends, will always be better to have than even the smartest bot. What a blessing these and many other individuals made in my career and in my life over the last several years. I've learned much and laughed often because of these coworkers. Friends, no matter where life takes each of us, know that I will never replace you with a bot. Warm hugs. More sad trombone. And bust out another box of tissues. 

As I pull myself together and get back to learning about how I can use AI to change the way I work, I can't help but think how each of us can create a chatbot that fits our needs and personalities. Though they could never replace our true coworkers, it would be fun to create the ideal coworker. If you created your own chatbot, who would it be and what would it do to improve your time at work?