A recent Facebook report on the way chatbots converse with each other has given the world a glimpse into the future of language.
In the report, researchers from the Facebook Artificial Intelligence Research lab (FAIR) describe training their chatbot “dialog agents” to negotiate using machine learning. The chatbots were eager and successful dealmaking pupils, but the researchers eventually realized they needed to tweak their model because the bots were creating their own negotiation language, diverting from human languages.

To put it another way, when they used a model that allowed the chatbots to converse freely, using machine learning to incrementally improve their conversational negotiation strategies as they chatted, the bots eventually created and used their own non-human language.

You would think at least one AI-powered humanoid bot would have a properly nerdy name. Maybe a Poindexter or Hildegarde to add some natural language processing to your customer chat app?

No such luck. Instead, it sounds like the cool kids are in charge at most digital assistant and bot startups. Think short, peppy names that top the popular baby name lists. There’s Aiden and Riley putting AI to work for marketers. Mya can chip in with recruiting. And Ava helps the hearing impaired. You get the idea.

Those are some of the more than 20 recently funded startups in the Crunchbase dataset with a human-sounding name that are developing some sort of digital assistant or AI bot. They’re working on tools for across a range of consumer and enterprise tasks, from lead generation and customer service to tracking personal finances.