Coming home from work I decide to make a coffee. I will stay late, developing my project. It is the year 2004. The computer gives stored instructions to my coffee maker, and I retrieve quickly any video, voice, or email messages.
My friend and business partner John Cox appears on the thin monitor: "You can pick up the documents. They are ready", says the video-mail, and I do not understand. These should be confidential files. Do I go to the corporate Web site, or I pick them up in person?
OK, I go to the corporate Web site. The picture of a receptionist pops up from the beginning, after the page title. Ups, sorry, she is not a video... The receptionist smiles and speaks now with a pleasant tone: "Welcome to IBM E-Commerce". The image seems, however, to freeze in the same position... No, she can not be a receptionist... She is a bot, an artificial intelligence (AI) robot!
"Is it possible to access Mr. Cox directly? John Cox from Sales", I ask with half-voice. "I am sorry, he is in a meeting, Sir. But if you prefer, we can access his secretary". I'm thinking: "What an old-fashioned custom, he still has a secretary". "Fine, connect me with her, if you can".
The second face appears on the screen. "E-Commerce Sales, this is Linda". She is so young, she must be a teenage... "Yes, I'm working with John on the same project and I wonder if he left for me a hard-copy folder..." Suddenly I freeze myself, together with Linda. She is also a bot. How in the world can we talk about confidential data with a Web machine?
"Are you Mr. Saceano?" "Yes, how do you know?" "Mr. Cox left me a message: could you please meet him in the lobby precisely at 10 am. Your computer fingerprint matches the one we have, Sir".
NO MORE LUNCH
As you can conclude, your personal secretary may not ask for lunch-time in the future, and will not ask for a salary either. In fact anybody will have the opportunity to hire a bot assistant, at home or in the office. You will be able to choose the face (blonde, brunette?) and voice features (French accent would be nice). Would that be possible by 2004?
The future personal assistant or secretary would most likely reside on your Web page, greeting the visitors, answering basic questions, placing Internet phone calls on your behalf, and doing other chores like sorting through e-mail. It would also know whether you are in the car, bedroom, office, or airport, and forward messages to you, as instructed.
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