[AndyK]

My company (JustAnswer) is looking to hire a Senior (and a Junior) Virtual Assistant Writer. This can be Freelance or Permanent.

Here is the job description:
We’re looking for a writer to help create the voice and personality of our artificially intelligent virtual assistant. Thinking of Siri or Cortana? Exactly right! You’ll develop the dialog that defines customer interactions with our chat module, which serves millions of users per month. Maybe you’ve written plays or scripts? Love using imagination and language? If you can write convincing dialog that keeps readers invested in the conversation, we want to hear from you!
 
YOU LOVE
·  Creating a consistent, recognizable character that comes to life
·  Collaborating with engineering, product and design teams
· Knowing when to simplify language to communicate ideas and when to use specialized language to establish credibility
·  Empathizing with users across a wide range of subjects
·  Working within a technical system (there’s minor code we’ll teach you)
 
YOU HAVE
·  Creative writing experience with character-driven dialog (we’d like to see samples)
·  Excellent English grammar and vocabulary skills
·  Ability to write within a multidisciplinary group setting, incorporating input from many people and sources of information/data
·  Ability to balance creativity with logic to work within the constraints of existing frameworks
·  Sensitivity toward cross-cultural communication and translation concerns
·  Experience in interactive storytelling preferred
·  Bachelor’s degree in interactive fiction a plus

ABOUT JUSTANSWER
JustAnswer is expertise on demand. Doctors without the waiting room. Lawyers without the hourly rate. Veterinarians in the middle of the night. Car mechanics and tech support without a trip to the shop. We were one of the first companies to enter the now hot on-demand economy. We’re proud to give people more power in their lives, connecting more than 9 million people in 196 countries with expert advice and answers.

We offer a casual workplace in the beautiful Presidio of San Francisco. Our close-knit team is positive and encouraging, and provides the flexibility for individuals to develop their skills and try some of the newest things out.

TO APPLY
Email sal.castillo@justanswer.com a link to your portfolio, résumé and a cover letter that addresses your strategy for developing the voice of our new virtual assistant. Please be aware that our assistant will act as the receptionist for doctors, lawyers, vets, mechanics and more, where different voices are necessary but the ultimate goal remains the same: help users seamlessly. Note that applications without a tailored cover letter will not be considered.

[Freddy]

Hi Andy, Is it pertinent to ask what technology the bot runs on, or is this of no concern to the writer ?

I just ask as we have people here with experience with a wide range of bot technologies and it might help them decide if the job is right for them.

[AndyK]

Good question. The most important thing is writing so this is technology independent.

[8pla.net]

Andy,

"Bachelor’s degree in interactive fiction a plus"

Never heard of that degree, why is it a plus?

Degree majors for A.I. are Computer Science  and, Information Systems.

There are all sorts of formats... XML, C++,  JavaScript...

Even a forum can store a live robot brain.  See: http://chatbot.tk

[AndyK]

We're looking for a great creative writer, not a programmer at this point -- will probably be looking for Dev help too soon. Doesn't have to be exactly that major, but we're trying to find someone who will be great at character writing. Like writing a script for a play or a movie!

[squarebear]

Can we ask what the rate of pay will be? I recently saw this AIML job for $100K-$200K http://jobflip.io/2ujb0

[AndyK]

Compensation will depend on experience. Also note that the job you linked to was for a developer and we are looking for a writer.

Andy

[DemonRaven]

I would never be a good fit. I tend to be short and to the point when writing or talking.

[8pla.net]

Andy said, "Compensation will depend on experience."

So, no experience... No compensation?         How about some beer, then?

Here is a free sample, Andy.

Code

I WOULD LIKE TO *
If you had the opportunity to $1, what would you do?
Well, I would like to see you get to $1.

I NEED *
What do you need $1 for?
Would it help you to get $1?
Are you certain you need $1?

IT IS *
You seem so sure.
If I told you it may not be $1, how would you feel?

A match on the (capitalized) stimulus line randomly chooses a response.
The asterisk (*) is a wildcard variable which gets saved.  The $1 format
gets replaced in the response with the wildcard variable. 

For example:

Stimulus: I would like to try.
Response: Well, I would like to see you get to try.


Here is a UNIX shell script to demonstrate:

Program Output:

STIMULUS: I WOULD LIKE TO TRY
RESPONSE: YOU WOULD PREFER TO TRY

Code

#!/bin/bash

user='I WOULD LIKE TO TRY'

echo STIMULUS:\ $user

if [[ $user =~ I\ WOULD\ LIKE\ TO\ (.*) ]]
then   
    echo RESPONSE:\ YOU\ WOULD\ PREFER\ TO\ ${BASH_REMATCH[1]} 
fi

[Art]

Uhh...how about $.78?

[DemonRaven]

Uhh...how about $.78?

So is that your way of saying your a cheap date art lol.

[Art]

That's all I could find in my couch cushions!

And yes, well...maybe not cheap but reasonable.

[8pla.net]

If I accept the 78¢ then that makes it official...
I am a professional virtual assistant writer!

All I need is another 1.3 million offers of 78¢
and I'd be a millionaire!

Gotta say though, I love bash shell scripting.
Take a look, instead of putting the string in
quotes, I am escaping the space characters
with forward slashes.  And regular expressions
are supported beautifully in bash shell scripting.

[Art]

Don't forget that as a Virtual Assistant Writer you get paid with Virtual currency!
Keep it in your Virtual wallet!

I need to take a virtual aspirin for my headache! (probably won't do any good though).

In all seriousness, I do hope AndyK is able to find an experienced writer for the project!

[8pla.net]

Totally agree, Art...
Andy's site is professional.
It deserves serious discussion.

So, I'll gladly set aside my humour
and suggest anyone go checkout
JustAnswer, if you haven't yet.

It may be possible to extrapolate a
theory on virtual assistants as they
relate to professional expert websites.