“When I’m communicating with my own chatbot,” she said, “sometimes I see something and I’m like, ‘Oh, that’s so me!’”
The chatbots may also offer a glimpse of the music industry’s future, which is already beginning to involve virtual-reality concerts, playlist algorithms
and virtual assistants like Amazon’s Alexa, said Cortney Harding, a consultant to music technology companies and the author of “How We’ll Listen Next: The Future of Music From Streaming to Virtual Reality.”
develops, everything is going to go into a mixed-reality world,” Ms. Harding said, “where you could dial up a hologram of your favorite pop star
and have ‘real conversations’ with the artificially intelligent version of that person.”
Octane AI, founded about a year ago, is one of a handful of technology companies tailoring these programs to the entertainment
industry, with clients including Interscope Records, the label behind Maroon 5 and 30 Seconds to Mars.
“I hate the word bot,” said Josh Bocanegra, Persona’s chief executive, who founded the company with Ms. Milian.
Want to be the first to know when we release new music?” A series of questions with multiple-choice answers follows, leading the fan down a path lined with emojis
and video clips; social media links then point other fans back to the bot.
Persona creates custom chatbots for clients including Snoop Dogg and one for the “50 Shades Darker” character Christian Grey, which tells fans
that if it cannot trust them, “I’ll have no choice but to spank you.” Bocanegra said a basic bot could be ordered for $2,500 plus maintenance charges.
