Hi , trust me , I ’ m a bot ...
Bots ! friends or foes ?
Bots , what are they and should we trust them ? Jacques Loubser , PPS Group Chief Information Officer , shares his insights on bots and why we should trust them and why not .
The first thing that might come to mind if one writes the word “ robot ” or “ bot ” might be the loveable C-3PO , R2-D2 or BB8 – all bots in the Star Wars movie series .
If the word “ bad bot ” is mentioned , HAL 9000 ( 2001 : A Space Odyssey ), Megatron ( Transformers ) or T-800 ( The Terminator ) could be the “ top seeds ”.
Today , bots , however , are not those we typically see in movies , those in big factories on assembly plants or even the toy versions one can buy for kids .
Bots are all around us and in their millions . Just ask Elon Musk . They interact with us daily . The “ good ” ones are of great help to all , but if they are “ bad ”, they can cause significant problems .
What is a ‘ bot ’
Kaspersky defines a bot – short for robot – as “ a software program that performs automated , repetitive , predefined tasks . Bots typically imitate or replace human user behaviour .” Some valuable functions they can carry out include delivering customer service or indexing search engines .
Futurelearn writes it is estimated that “ just over half of all activity on the internet is conducted by bots , rather than by humans .
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