http://www.barrons.com/articles/alexa-get-me-an-apple-quote-1486794340
Interactive Brokers has introduced IBot, an artificial-intelligence-enabled tool that understands oral commands. It arrives just as a number of online brokers are providing answers to much more basic requests over voice-activated systems like Amazon’s ubiquitous Alexa.
IBot can respond to plain English requests such as, “What’s my account margin?” and “What’s my P&L for today?” with written online answers (no Alexa or Siri voice here). It can also answer inquiries about price quotes, option chains, order placement, and upcoming corporate events. Asking, “What are Apple’s most recent earnings?” brings you a display, and from there you can say, “Buy 200 shares of Apple.” The latter opens an order entry screen that you can edit or submit.
Thomas Peterffy, Interactive Brokers’ chairman and founder, says he has been working on the firm’s flagship platform, Trader Workstation, or TWS, for more than a quarter of a century. “We spend more and more on development every year, which gives the platform an increasing amount of functionality,” Peterffy says. “As we add features, it’s difficult for the average client to figure out what TWS can do, and how to get to the various features.” He recently realized that though the platform is his creation, even he isn’t certain how to navigate to some features.
Interactive Brokers’ clients can now give their accounts verbal commands via IBot.
The initial implementation of IBot offers basic answers to natural language questions. But future iterations will allow richer interactions. “Eventually, you will be able to talk to your system as though you were talking to a wealth advisor,” says Peterffy. The learning curve for using TWS effectively should flatten significantly. The IBot feature, he says, is “the ultimate in user friendliness.” He believes that it’s the best way to smooth the customer experience as Interactive Brokers continue to build the platform.
Interactive Brokers has introduced IBot, an artificial-intelligence-enabled tool that understands oral commands. It arrives just as a number of online brokers are providing answers to much more basic requests over voice-activated systems like Amazon’s ubiquitous Alexa.
IBot can respond to plain English requests such as, “What’s my account margin?” and “What’s my P&L for today?” with written online answers (no Alexa or Siri voice here). It can also answer inquiries about price quotes, option chains, order placement, and upcoming corporate events. Asking, “What are Apple’s most recent earnings?” brings you a display, and from there you can say, “Buy 200 shares of Apple.” The latter opens an order entry screen that you can edit or submit.
Thomas Peterffy, Interactive Brokers’ chairman and founder, says he has been working on the firm’s flagship platform, Trader Workstation, or TWS, for more than a quarter of a century. “We spend more and more on development every year, which gives the platform an increasing amount of functionality,” Peterffy says. “As we add features, it’s difficult for the average client to figure out what TWS can do, and how to get to the various features.” He recently realized that though the platform is his creation, even he isn’t certain how to navigate to some features.
Interactive Brokers’ clients can now give their accounts verbal commands via IBot.
The initial implementation of IBot offers basic answers to natural language questions. But future iterations will allow richer interactions. “Eventually, you will be able to talk to your system as though you were talking to a wealth advisor,” says Peterffy. The learning curve for using TWS effectively should flatten significantly. The IBot feature, he says, is “the ultimate in user friendliness.” He believes that it’s the best way to smooth the customer experience as Interactive Brokers continue to build the platform.
