Chatbots’ Time Has Come. Why Now?

“Few new products have exploded into the American marketplace like AI chatbots. Unhindered by the recession, chatbots are racking up millions of users and are increasingly being offered by the world’s largest tech companies.”

Confession: I made up that quote. Actually, I adapted it.

Here’s the original version, from a news article written almost exactly 40 years ago (Jan. 9, 1983) about the rise of the personal computer:

“Few new products have exploded into the American marketplace like the personal computer. Unhindered by the recession or by cutbacks in government spending, personal computers are racking up billions of dollars in sales and are increasingly being sold in department stores and discount houses like so many vacuum cleaners.”

Computers were not new at that time, and neither are AI chatbots now. But sometimes there are moments in a technology’s maturation where a critical boundary is crossed, a breakthrough product is released, and the growth graphs go vertical.

In order to cross such a boundary, multiple factors must come together at the same time. It's like opening a lock: all the pins must align to enter the next room.