#StartupsEverywhere profile: James Silva, Founder & CEO, ConciergeBot
This profile is part of #StartupsEverywhere, an ongoing series highlighting startup leaders in ecosystems across the country. This interview has been edited for length, content, and clarity.
Enabling a More Pleasant Travel Experience Through AI Chatbots
James Silva is the founder and CEO of San Francisco-based ConciergeBot, an AI-powered chatbot for the hospitality and travel industry. We spoke with James to learn about eliminating bias in AI, navigating international regulations, and making technology accessible to a global market.
Could you tell us about your background and how it led you to ConciergeBot?
I grew up in Los Angeles, California, and then moved to the Bay Area at age 18 to study Computer Science at Stanford. I then worked in software engineering and product management at large companies including eBay, Expedia, and Adobe. After many years of working at large companies, I wanted to try my hand at entrepreneurship. So I thought about what sort of problems exist around me that could be solved.
I own a vacation home in Palm Springs, Calif. that I rent on Airbnb. Often, guests would ask the same questions repeatedly, and I responded with the same answers, even if the information was in a confirmation email or on the Airbnb listing. So I decided to build an interactive AI assistant for my guests. Instead of waiting for me to respond, they could access a tool that’s always on the clock.
Tell us about ConciergeBot. What is the work you are doing?
We build chatbots and voice bots, primarily for the travel and hospitality industries. SMS and WhatsApp are the most popular channels for ConciergeBot because people are constantly checking their messages. You might download Airbnb or a hotel app on your phone, but you're not going to use it as often as text messages. We wanted to go where people paid attention, so we started with those channels.
Now that the hospitality industry is bouncing back and people are traveling again, we’re seeing some opportunities to build up our communication channels and integrate chatbots into existing mobile apps. We're working with some clients that have their own Hotel Management apps and websites. Customers come to their website and have questions before booking a room or making a purchase.
ConciergeBot is gaining interest with domestic customers, but also internationally. We're working on expanding our language support and building more voice-enabled applications, which is exciting. We’ve already developed some phone-based voice products. But I think smart speakers such as Amazon Echo and Google Home will be a bigger part of our work in the coming year.
Can you tell us about the legal and policy issues ConciergeBot faces in regards to user-generated content?
We primarily focus on business-to-business products. So our direct customer might be a property management company or small business, but their customers interact with our bot as end-users. Working with customers is an iterative process because the bot is sort of like an employee. And with any concierge who serves you at a hotel, there's a certain amount of training needed to help guests. So we have to train our bots like a person would be trained, which is very interesting.
Companies typically provide their own content, whether it's internal information, best practices, or recommendations on places to go and things to do. We keep that data within the scope of their customers, and we don't surface that information to our other clients because we respect those sorts of boundaries. We haven't received a copyright complaint yet, but I could envision a future where that’s possible. We would take the matter seriously and, if needed, remove any infringing content from our platform.
ConciergeBot has spoken about the importance of identifying and eliminating bias in AI. Can you tell us a bit more about why that is important to you?
As a member of the LGBTQ+ and Latinx communities, I feel strongly about preventing and eliminating bias in AI. With all the AI we build in ConciergeBot, it’s important to me that we’re aware of our own biases and accountable for eliminating and preventing bias from entering our systems or products. I also think that AI can benefit underserved communities, so we’re seeking opportunities to provide underserved communities access to our AI products.
I can envision future scenarios where eliminating bias or protecting civil liberties would merit regulation in certain aspects of AI. It’s our responsibility as companies to help address those concerns. But considering the impact that might have on industry or companies like ours, I think it is important that all stakeholders are a part of those conversations.
I understand ConciergeBot is in international markets. Have you faced any barriers trying to expand internationally?
Right now, we have clients in the United States and Europe. We have a couple more prospective clients in Africa and Southeast Asia that we're talking to, which is exciting. I think we do a great job of supporting startups here in the United States, especially after traveling and talking to founders based in other countries. So I appreciate the framework and support we have in this country to start a company.
Recently, we were accepted to an incubator program through the Nova School of Business and Economics in Lisbon, where we’re working with a few companies in Portugal on some pilot partnerships. As an American company, part of our discussion centered around our ability to comply with GDPR and potential AI regulations in the EU. These issues are top of mind for us and potential international partners because at least one of us must be aware and able to comply. We're working closely with them on those matters before we get ready to launch partnerships.
In addition, we have other software platforms that we use for database connectivity, so ensuring that our providers are also GDPR and EU compliant is essential. We are engaging these challenges early on to enable our reach and impact globally. Being able to prepare for compliance on the front-end lowers the regulatory burdens, which I think would have been harder if we had been more established and suddenly had to retrofit a lot of our existing systems or processes.
How does accessibility play a role in building ConciergeBot?
What I like about our product is that it's all text-based. While there might be some rich content, like images or links to videos, people in places with low bandwidth or slow internet connection are able to send and receive the information they need by text message, even when applications or other software might not come through.
We're also looking to provide our chatbot features and capabilities to business owners who work on the go. One of our clients in the medical field that does phlebotomy typically has employees in the field with access to their phones, rather than being in front of a computer. Maybe they don't have enough bandwidth to open an app, but they can still send a text message or make a phone call. So whether it's confirming a dispatch request or updating a status, we've made all of those features accessible through SMS or voice. I think accessibility will become a bigger value proposition as we shift towards more mobile solutions and new markets.
We want to provide our services to as many people as we can. For example, if someone's visually impaired, they may not see, but they can talk to a smart speaker and ask about check-out. Screen reading and language support are other parts of accessibility that we think about because we want to make our chatbot multilingual. There are many different ways to slice accessibility. But when you think about it globally, there's still a large percentage of the world population that doesn't have access to fast, broadband internet. How do you provide services for them? How do you give them tools to participate in the modern economy? I think those questions are really important in thinking about accessibility.
What are your goals for ConciergeBot going forward?
We raised a small amount of friends and family capital, but we’re also looking into seed-stage funding or crowdfunding campaigns. And now that we're gaining traction, I think it's a good time to tell our story and raise some funds. We’re also looking to grow our team, so we look forward to the opportunity to bring on thoughtful, new members to ConciergeBot.
ConciergeBot is gaining momentum as people begin traveling again, and the demand for automation and touchless technology is increasing. Right now, we're trying to keep up with current levels of demand and interest for our product. It's been hard, but that’s not a bad problem to have.
So our goals for the coming year are to absorb this demand, improve our product, and begin fundraising. I think there will always be a need for AI and humans to work together. And there will always be things that AI cannot do. But I think the goal is having AI work alongside people to handle those jobs so that humans can spend time on important matters and not repetitive tasks that can be automated or easily answered.
All of the information in this profile was accurate at the date and time of publication.
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