Talkabot Talks: Lucas Ives, Product Team, Pullstring

This post originally appeared on the the Howdy.ai company blog to promote the Talkabot Conference

*Lucas will be speaking at Talkabot Conference representing the folks at Pullstring, “an entertainment and technology company that combines art and science to enable computer conversation with characters”. With their new publishing platform, developers can easily create bots with personality.*

What is the mission that drives PullString?

Our mission is to provide the most usable and powerful tools for the best creators of computer conversation in the world through a combination of art and science.

What can Interactive Storytelling teach us about Human-Machine Interaction?

People enjoy suspending disbelief when it comes to technology. When you start conversing with an object , even when you know that it’s a machine, there is still the innate human drive to create backstory and connection with that entity.

Even when you know that it’s a machine, there is still the innate human drive to create backstory and connection with that entity.

We have seen this through our work on products for both children and adults, and it has inspired us to continue to develop technologies that empower users to engage in increasingly organic computer conversations.

Humani: Jesse’s Story is a conversation-based narrative game for play on Facebook Messenger.

As messaging platforms add the ability to create chat driven applications, what sort of new narrative possibilities do you see for creative storytellers?

All kinds! The possibilities are truly endless — which is what is so exciting about working at PullString. Never before have we had such an advanced ability to create everything from “Choose Your Own Adventure” RPG experiences to Virtual Assistants to advanced customer service tools.

As more people and brands become storytellers and more storytellers embrace platforms like PullString, we’re excited to see what these creative minds come up with.

Children seem to grasp the immediacy of Human-Machine connection without many of the built in biases of adults. What do you think we can learn from them as to how people will interact with Bots in the future?

Children want to believe in magic. There is no barrier to believing that Barbie can talk to them or that they could have a meaningful conversation with Iron Man. They immediately embrace that relationship. Adults can actually do this, too, but only when we create a rich and immersive narrative environment, heavy with story and high-stakes.

Children want to believe in magic.

This allows adults to step into that role-playing state of mind that kids wear all the time so naturally. In the not distant future, we’ll be looking beyond basic chat bots, and delve more into VR and other immersive technologies to create those experiences for adults.

Join us Sept 28–29th in Austin, Texas to discuss bots, conversational software and community for the first ever Talkabot Conference. Full track tickets are still available but going fast!

Follow @TalkabotConf for the latest announcements and news.