Title: Introduction: Bots Slug: 01-s3-introduction Date: 2020-11-01 12:00 Summary: What type of bots are being made? When we say bots, we refer to software agents which automatise certain actions and can run autonomously or semi-autonomously. [perhaps provide an example to make it more concrete to the reader] The particular bots we are interested in for this online module are those that act as an interface between the digital platform and human users, or what [Andreas] Hepp calls communicative robots[^hepp], robots that "are defined as autonomously operating systems designed for the purpose of quasi-communication with human beings to enable further algorithmic-based functionalities – often but not always on the basis of artificial intelligence" [page numbers]. In this section, we will introduce Darius Kazemi, a computer programmer and artist, and Andreas Hepp, a professor of media and communications [replace with [professor of media and communications at the ZeMKI, University of Bremen]] [^hepp]: Hepp, Andreas. "Artificial companions, social bots and work bots: communicative robots as research objects of media and communication studies" *Media, Culture & Society* Volume 42 (2020): 1410-1426.