In the digital world, we come across bots. Bot is short for robot. It emerges out of software programmes designed to perform automated, repetitive tasks. Bots by design mimic humans, and the traits of good and evil are embedded in every bot.
The first chatbot was ELIZA developed in 1966 at MIT, US to mimic human conversation. Today we have the advanced conversational bots such as ChatGPT. There are bots integrated into web sites, messaging apps, social media platforms and voice assistants such as Alexa.
Since bots are interactive, they are an asset for voice-led services such as call centers — changing passwords, telling account balance, scheduling an appointment. All these required human intervention till recently.
The qualities of speed, scale and tireless repetitions make bots vulnerable to abuse. At times bad bots take the functions of good bots. Automated traffic surpasses human activity. Bad bots can comprise a large chunk of such traffic. Sectors such as financial services, healthcare and e-commerce become victims of AI-powered bot attacks. The aim is to scrape data , do fraud and do account hijacking.
The sane advice is to spot the bot to stop the rot. One has to be vigilant.
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