About this site

Conversational AI News is an independent publication launched in November 2022 by me - Ewan MacLeod - originally as a private list of Conversational AI news links that I was curating for myself. I've recently swapped that activity by publishing the links (with some commentary) on this website - so hello and welcome!

The Background

For the longest time, I've been fascinated by the power and possibility of Conversational AI.

As Chief Digital Officer for a leading bank in Northern Europe, I had a front-row seat as we launched an in-app chat capability... and then later on, a chatbot or conversational AI interface. This was back in 2016 or thereabouts. Even then, with limited capabilities, the chatbot was showing enormous promise. Today, the chatbot is reliably answering millions of conversations every year.

But it's not just answering - it's orchestrating. It's connected to dozens of back-end APIs to enable customers to solve their issues now, without having to make that tedious customer support call.

So I'm not only a fan, I've seen the technology function up close - and I've had the privilege of representing these successes publicly.

About Me

I'm Ewan, I'm the founder and editor of Conversational AI News. I've got game with this sort of thing - or at least a track record. From 2006 until around 2015, I was the editor of Mobile Industry Review. I tracked the mobile industry's rise (and falls - hello Nokia/BlackBerry) for more than a decade, only slowing down when every phone began to look the same.

I've worked in Financial Services for quite some time, generally focusing on helping drive Digital Transformation across banks in the United Kingdom, Europe and the Middle East. I've been responsible for $250M+ transformation budgets and I've regularly been the decision maker and buyer of technology and services such as Conversational AI. I therefore have a slightly different approach and interest than a journalist might.

I've also been evangelising Conversational AI for quite a while – especially through my role as external faculty (AI, FinTech & Digital Transformation) for the London Institute of Banking & Finance ("LIBF"). You can find my LIBF credentials at the bottom of my LinkedIn profile. I regularly work with LIBF to offer executive education on topics such as AI for senior leaders and boards of directors.

You can read more about me on my LinkedIn or personal site:

Why this website?

I wanted one place to read Conversational AI news, perspectives, interviews and profiles. I couldn't find something specifically dedicated to this topic, so instead of capturing interesting news stories with Instapaper (something I've been doing for a long time), I decided to publish each link that I would normally be saving, along with some commentary.

Individual Subscriptions

You can subscribe to Conversational AI News. Mostly I am intending making everything freely available. But if you're working in the industry – and you have an expense account – and you're getting value, I would very much appreciate you becoming a premium subscriber. That will only help me do more.

In the future I intend some content being only available to premium tier subscribers, but for the most part, I expect the site to be free to access. Please do register for a free account so you'll get newsletter updates though.

Corporate Subscriptions

I have a Public Relations premium tier for any public relations companies that are working heavily with Conversational AI. That membership is one that will give you direct access to me for any pitches, interview requests and so on.

I also have a Corporate Membership premium tier for the behemoths of the Conversational AI industry. If you're doing great things in Conversational AI, then your support with a premium Corporate account will help me keep the lights on here. You'll also get an individual thank you post here on the site from me - and I will list your company as a top supporter.

Contact Me

Send me your feedback, pitches and ideas! Please visit the Contact page for more details.

Thanks for reading.