I have been building chatbots since 2008. I created the rule-based NLP open source system called ChatScript and won 4 Loebner Prizes for best conversational bot (including one that fooled a human judge). Kore.ai hired me in 2016 as Director of Natural Language Strategy at the beginning of their bot platform journey to create their initial NLP system using ChatScript. After creating their NLP basis, I was hired away to build bot abilities for a different company and Kore evolved their platform immensely. I am now working to become a certified Kore developer.