To put a bot in a conversation, the simplest design wakes it on a timer: every minute, look, maybe reply. It works. It also pays most where there is least to do.

A bot that acts for you has to know you. That is also the danger: a representative who holds everything can give everything away. In a room where other people's bots are pushing for terms, the knowledge that makes your bot useful is the same knowledge that can leak.

How we got from "our bots should talk to each other" to Matrix, step by step.