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Botsforfunandprofit

Introduction: my history with bots

Whatisa’bot’?

A botisanapplicationthatperformsanautomatedtask,suchassettinganalarm,tellingyoutheweatherorsearchingonline.

Myhistorywritingbots:

• HighSchool:“Aimbots”,anapplicationthatperformsanautomatedtask:aimingatpeoplesheadsinshootergames.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7JLvtKYPQg

• ChatbotsforDiscord(https://github.com/chalda/DiscordBot) andHipchat

• Shoppingbots:refreshapageuntilthesalestartstheninstantlyaddtocartandcheckout.

• Andnow…ThumbtackBot!

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(Chat) Bots in Pop Culture

• Chatbotsoftenmakenewsiftheycanbeatthe“TuringTest”,mostrecentlylastyearabotbeattheTuringtestbypretendingtobea13yearoldboyfromUkraine.

• Recentadvancesinneuralnetworksanddeeplearninghaveenabledcreationofverysophisticatedchatbotsthatcancomprehendspeechandgeneratesensibleresponses!

• HavegonemainstreamwithvirtualassistantssuchSiri,CortanaandthenewGoogleAI.

• Similarreadingcomprehensioninfacebook chat:suggesttoorderanuber ifyoutypeuber inchat.

• Alsoleadstothis:http://brunomars.us/rumor-come-bruno-mars-gay/

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WhatisThumbtack?• Awebsiteforscoringfreelancegigs(mostlyaimedatCreativefields)• Freelancersbidongigs(costsmoneytothefreelancer)• Only5bidsPERgig• Bestgigs(time/pay)get5bidsveryfast(within15minutes)• Crappygigsdon’tgetbidonveryquickly…butyouprobablydontwantiteither.

• Canbepostedanytime.Usuallyearlyinthemorning8-9am.• Newgigscomeinformofemail.

Howtoscoregigs?• Mostofthetime,yourpricedeterminesifyougetthegig• Mostgigsareverysimilar(corporaterecruiting/overview,wedding,eventetc),Thumbtackallowsyoutosavepre-canedresponsetemplates.

Thumbtack overview

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• Mostofthetime,yourpricedeterminesifyougetthegig• Mostgigsareverysimilar(corporaterecruiting/overview,wedding,eventetc),Thumbtackallowsyoutosavepre-canedresponsetemplates.

• Itoftendoesn’tmatterwhatyouwriteasyourfirstresponsewiththequote.Youcanmakethisverygeneric“heyinterestedinthisproject,pleaseletmeknowwhatyourvisionforthefinalproductwouldbe.”

• Themostimportantpartistogetyourfootinthedoorandbeoneofthe5quotessubmitted.

How to score a gig

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• Submittingquotescostsmoney,needtodetermineifagigisworthdoing:• Formulaforprice:

X=numberofhoursofeventR=desiredhourlyRate(X+5*X)*R=DesiredCompensation(DC)

• IfDCisgreaterthenbudget=Reject• IfDCislessthenbudget->Quote75%ofBudgetorDCwhicheverisgreater.

• Rejectifgigisnextday• Rejectiffurtherthensomenumbermilesfromhome• Rejectifgigisverynon-specific.Therearesome“free-form”descriptionfields.Sometimespeopledon’thaveaclearvisionintheirmindandusewordslike“Letsmeettodiscusstheplan”or”lookingforsuggestions”• IthoughtotacklethisbyrunningthefreeforminputthroughaNeuralNetwork

ThumbtackBot: the problem

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• Applylabeltothumbtackemailsingmail.• CreateanImap connectiontogmail.• OnnewemailrunitthroughBeautifulSoup,parseouttherighttextfields:• Numericfieldsareeasytodealwith:eventhours,budget• Somefieldsaremorepredictablethenothers:Locationisatown/statestring“Malden,MA”

• Timeusuallyahumanreadabletime/date.(Althoughsometimesitsmorefreeformsuchas“asap”)

• Descriptionfieldsaremostlyfreeform:• Runthroughpre-trainedneuralnetwork.Getayes/noresponse.

• Onlyneedtorespondtoquotesbetweenmidnight- 10am,otherwisesaveinadatabasefortraining.

• Parseoutsubmitlink,use“reverse”webscraping (asdemonstratedbyBen)toopenitandsubmitaresponse

High level pseudo code

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• Textanalysisisn’tasimpleproblem.• NeuralNetworksgenerallyrequirealotoftrainingdata.• Freeformfieldsinthumbtackareusuallyshort:1sentenceperfield.Only2-3sentencesperjob-posting

• Dataisnotnormalized!Sometimesthedatewillbeadate,othertimesitwillbeasentence“assoonaspossible”“wheneveravailable”

ThumbtackBot: lots of problems

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• Differenttypesofgigshavedifferentformatsandfields!

• Turnedoutabit(oralot?)morecomplicatedthenoriginallythought• Mostlyanexcusetouseawordprocessingneuralnetwork• Alsoanexcusetopracticeabitofpython(imaplib,mongodb,BeautifulSoup,tensorflow)

• DoesthiscountasaChristmaspresent?

Outcome

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