Bots are everywhere now. Anyone who surfs websites and social media has encountered them at least once. And often he doesn't even know it. In fact, many users interact with them daily without realizing it. That's why we wanted to write this article.
Whether it's virtual assistants like Siri or Alexa, or from software more sneaky than sending spam, Bots can perform a variety of automated tasks. With the increased use of bots on platforms like social media, Web sites and messaging apps, Knowing how to distinguish them becomes essential to protect your data and improve your browsing.
If you are a young and experienced user, probably many of these things will seem obvious to you… but don't take anything for granted! Here you will see all the types of bots that exist, you will find out how to recognize them, therefore how to defend yourself, and you will also find basic development tips.
Content index
What are bots? When did they come into being?
Bots are computer programs that automate repetitive tasks and interactions. They have been around since the 60s. One of the earliest known examples is ELIZA, a program developed by Professor Joseph Weizenbaum in 1966, capable of simulating a conversation based on simple predefined rules. In the following years, bots have become increasingly complex, with applications ranging fromSearch Engine Indexing ai customer service chatbot. In addition to these classic uses there are many others that you will see as you continue reading.
What types are there?
There are different types of bots. Some are designed for useful and legitimate purposes, while others can be used for malicious activities.
Chatbots They are programs designed to simulate human conversations, for this reason they are widely used for automate simple customer service or similar processes. You will surely have seen them in a small pop-up that usually appears at the bottom when you open an institutional site or a site of a business that offers services or in a E-commerce. Or on your smartphone if you have an iPhone (Siri).
- spider bot are used by the search engine to crawl the web and index content.
Social bots instead you find them on every social network. They are among the most deceptive, because They create the illusion that a page is followed and that its contents are of interest generating comments. Or worse they can be used to defame and create misinformation. Eye.
Even worse there are malicious bots like those for the Phishing, who try to steal personal information, or like the botnet, which perform large-scale DDoS attacks, rendering websites and servers unusable.
How do they develop?
Developing a bot today has become more accessible thanks to relatively intuitive tools and platforms such as dialog flow e Microsoft Bot Framework. Generally speaking, however, It is always advisable to have programming skills to be able to manage the creation, monitoring and maintenance.
There are also more complex programs that use artificial intelligence exploiting technologies such as the machine learning algorithm and the deeplearning.
How to recognize a bot
Recognizing a bot is not always easy, especially if you are someone who grew up without internet. However, As soon as you read these simple tips you will realize that recognizing a bot is much more intuitive than you think.
- Be careful of automatic and repetitive responses.
- If the response times are extremely fast or slow you can assume that you are talking to a bot.
- You can expect anything from people, it's true... but messages that are illogical and too inconsistent with the context are an important signal. This is because programs that do not use advanced AI are not able to understand natural language and complex contexts such as sarcasm. So if you have doubts, test your virtual interlocutor by increasing the complexity of the interaction.
- On social media, be wary of profiles that have minimal information, no real photos, or a disproportionate number of friends or followers compared to real interaction.
Taking these precautions into consideration, 90% of the time you will be able to recognize the classic bots that litter the web and social media.
If you found this article useful and have any special requests, please let us know: we at kilobit, in addition to offering the services you can see on our pageWithWe are always available to make your presence on the web and social media aware. Until next time!
