Simi Bartender is a chatbot that helps you with cocktail recipes; here’s how it works

Clearly, messenger bots are the thing of 2016, with cab booking services to e-wallets, to now, a spirit company integrating their bots on Facebook Messenger to come a step closer to their audience. United Spirits, a Diageo Group Company is embracing conversational interfaces with the launch of India’s first artificial intelligence-based chatbot that offers bartending solutions.

Called ‘Simi – Your Personal Bartender’, it is a Facebook Messenger chatbot that offers over 2,000 DIY cocktail recipes which can be made with simple ingredients. The bot has been developed by Yellow Messenger, a Bangalore-based startup that has developed customized Digital assistants through botplatform.io technology. Essentially, if you have a party at home, you don’t need to sit surfing the web to decide what cocktail to serve. You can simply launch your messenger app, and ask Simi Bartender chatbot to offer a cocktail recipe of your choosing in an instant.

“There is a shift in the way consumers are interacting with brands today and through this conversational interface we wanted to build a first of its kind bartending solution that is not just cutting edge, but can also help us offer our consumers personalization at scale. We believe Simi will open up a world of drinks and has the potential to transform how alcohol is consumed at home”, Sridhar, Vice President of Digital at USL, Diageo.

The chatbot has been designed to gain intelligence through conversations and will start by offering bartending recommendations based on combination of ingredients and alcohol preference. Going forward it will also offer cocktail recipe choices based on celebratory themes. ALSO READ: Ola Money launches chatbot for Facebook Messenger, here’s how to use it

“There are over 3 billion highly engaged users on messaging platforms globally and we believe chatbots powered by artificial intelligence will prove to be the next big technology intervention which will prove to be a game-changer in how brands engage with its consumers to provide a unique, interactive and personalized experience. In India, USL – Diageo is pioneering the use of artificial intelligence among consumer brands through Simi and we are happy to partner them in developing and powering this experience” said Raghu Ravinutala, Founder of Yellow Messenger.

However, since booze is an essential ingredient of the conversation with the chatbot, the age limit to access the bot is 25. People below the age of 25 will not be able to search the link to the chatbot on the Messenger, in the first place. But if you are 25 year-old or above, Simi is one interesting chatbot. Here’s how it works.

Launch your Messenger app and search “Simi Your Personal Bartender” in the search bar on top. The chatbot will welcome you with introducing itself and asking you the ingredients you already have in your kitchen or the ones you want to make a cocktail, you can either type in your ingredient or choose from the options that the bot hits you with. ALSO READ: This ATM chatbot on Facebook Messenger will show cash availability in the nearest ATMs; here’s how it works

After the primary ingredient has been decided, the bot asks you for the alcohol use wish to use as base in your cocktail, and accordingly it gives you options of a list of recipes you can go with. You can then choose the cocktail you wish to go for. And Simi would send you a detailed recipe for the preparation of the same.

And since, you never have one drink with a friend, the chatbot always offers you to give you another recipe of a cocktail. Additionally, the bot also asks you to share the final image of your cocktail with it, but it’s not really smart in that area, it’s just to cheer you up. We fooled the bot by sharing a picture of an empty water bottle, and it told us that the drink looks really awesome. But the recipes are pretty interesting. So, cheers and drink responsibly!

If you look at the trends of the year, a myriad of companies have integrated with the Facebook Messenger to create chatbots. Just recently, Ola introduced a chatbot on Facebook Messenger letting users access their mobile wallet right within the messaging app. Essentially, the Ola Money chatbot eradicates the need for a user to install the Ola Money app on their smartphone. Also, the chatbot enables a faster access to the wallet, with the bot anticipating your needs and prompting every option right there. It lets you check your Ola Money balance, send or add money, right there. Here’s how this messenger bot works.

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