San Farancisco, May 24 2016 - Most bots solve relatively small problems, like increasing the convenience of getting lunch. “We’re not building bots to order pizzas,” Leydon told me, alluding to the bot fad that has swept over Silicon Valley since Facebook launched a bot platform last month to help businesses interact with its 900 million users. “We’re building bots to run countries.”

Leydon is chief executive of MZ, a fast-growing company that has used its technology, built over the past nine years, to make Game of War one of the highest revenue-generating games in the app stores. The company’s tech keeps millions of gamers engaged by translating in-game messages across 32 languages in real time.

It’s that cloud technology, which allows billions of interconnections to take place instantly, that MZ says gives it an advantage over competitors. Six months ago, Leydon decided to take his technology beyond games. On a trip to New Zealand, he noticed that the country had an open API for its public transportation system. Intrigued, he promised the New Zealand authorities he could build a command center to make its transport system much more efficient. He would start by building a pilot for the country’s largest city, Auckland. It would track the city’s entire fleet of 3,000 buses and the usage patterns of the up to 2 million people — residents and tourists — who ride those buses over the year.

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