The realm of chatbots may be next for Amazon Twitch. This could offer a fun new feature for Twitch users, as long as Twitch doesn’t go racist like Microsoft’s Twitter chatbot Tay. You may remember Tay, the lovable, sexist, racist, horny Hitler chatbot that found 15 minutes of fame before getting the axe. Amazon has traditionally stayed ahead in many niche markets. They petitioned the FAA for drone clearance before consumers even thought about buying them. And don’t forget Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket launch and landing in January of this year. Bezos is Amazon CEO, in case you were curious. Amazon seems to always find what works, and a chatbot for Twitch may be their next big success. Can Amazon keep up with Facebook, or maybe they don’t need to? As long as there chatbot doesn’t get racist.
Amazon Twitch vs. Facebook
After Microsoft’s racist Tay was shot down from the Twitter-sphere, Facebook has had the only reliable chatbot service out there. Reliable used in the loosest of terms. Amazon launched a friggin rocket, so letting Facebook be the only one cashing chatbot checks doesn’t seem likely. Twitch is a gaming social network community with live competitions and iconic Bob Ross painting episodes from the 80s and 90s. It could be considered an indie-cult niche community. Making it much smaller than Facebook. But Amazon has put effort into making twitch more socially minded for its users. Offering user-to-user chat and friend lists to help users see who’s watching.
Twitch Goes Chatbot
Twitch may never reach Facebook capabilities when it comes to chatbots. But the platform may not need to. They have a niche market with a loyal following. This could be much better than having the Facebook headaches of dealing with such a big social networking monster. Facebook has been having trouble keeping their users posting. In fact, Facebook users are posting 21 percent less than they did a year prior. People may be seeing the value of privacy. Twitch has essentially won half the battle, since their content driven users already know the way home. Amazon has already bridged the gap between budding game developers and the tools of the trade on Amazon Web Services. Jeff Bezos is expected to announce the AI chatbot plan very soon.
Avoiding Racist Tay Disaster
Offering AI chatbot services to users could have a big impact on the niche market Amazon has found. But staying out of trouble is a big issue for AI chatbots. The racist ramblings by Tay were in many ways offensive, but also hilarious. The chatbot fail by Microsoft was a trending affair, as well as a valuable lesson for those who wish to turn chatbots on their users. Racist rants are only part of the problem. Rushing an AI chatbot to a platform can turn users off if it doesn’t operate correctly. In a niche market, with a small volume of users, respectively, could be disastrous.
