Language is the ability that distinguishes humans from other living beings. The quest to build machines that can understand human language lasted in the scientific world for centuries. The process was extremely difficult since language is incredibly complex. In comparison with machines, human brains function in a peculiar way to understand language. Conversational AI solutions is a technology that enables machines to interact naturally with humans via language.
It is a futuristic implementation of artificial intelligence that uses neural networks, machine learning, etc., and enhances them to manufacture software. For instance, from hands-free driving and virtual customer support agents on the other end of phone lines to Siri in the handset, all of these work using conversational AI services.
This facility has two key components. The first one is Neural Language Understanding or NLU, and the second one is about its ability to deploy NLU into action. NLU is an AI-driven capability that extracts meaning from written or spoken text.
Humans can express simple questions such as ‘Hey, where’s the nearest supermarket?’ in many different ways and NLU processes them in real-time and recognises the underlying intent. The second component brings these AI-powered conversations to life on the users’ screens and connects them with whatever is needed to reach their goals. Thus, Conversational AI enables them to chat and get things done smartly.
Difference between Conversational AI and regular Chatbots
Chatbots are everywhere around the internet and are very much popular in the market. A chatbot is typically a rule-based bounded system with well-defined categories for specific operations that deliver only one-time responses. That is to say, they are not interactive or conversational and do not offer any variance in the way they interact. However, Conversational AI is focused on a dialogue system that allows it to handle human variance that results in a better conversational experience.
It is designed in such a way to assist users on any channel in spoken or written language whenever necessary. Therefore, a conversational AI understands a person’s intent and employs multi-turn dialogues, asks follow-up questions, and compensates when the user goes off-topic or has an unexpected response. This ability of conversational AI to handle human variance, especially in dialogue instead of the one-shot response, makes it different from conventional chatbots. Ultimately it brings back the natural way of interaction which is language to our technology-driven world.
What are the benefits?
- High-quality service is the main attraction of this technology. The ability to manage dialogues in natural language through automatic speech recognition and machine language aids the technology in interacting efficiently with the clients. Compared to the other forms of customer care services, conversational AI is quicker in response. It manages multiple customers simultaneously at an increased pace. By holding conversations actively, it provides assistance whenever required, i.e. conversation AI service is a 24 hours available service.
- Personalisation is another important feature. It works based on the inclinations of the customer by analysing the previous interactions. For instance, it picks up the customer’s preferences from previous conversations, such as likes and dislikes, and works accordingly. It also analyses various conversations to understand the requirement in a better way. By examining the tone and mood of the conversation, AI bots can provide responses that will satisfy the customer. This feature takes customer satisfaction to unimaginable heights.
- Conversational AI solutions not only benefit the customer but the service provider as well. The fast response supports the business by increasing sales. Since customers prefer companies that respond fast to their queries and needs, it is found that the companies which implement conversational AI have a considerable amount of growth in their business.
- Low-cost customer service impacts the business. Most companies spend a good amount of money on their customer care services, especially human-operated services. However, conversational AI can provide multiple low-cost services with efficiency and accuracy. It also rules out the possibility of spending money on human-oriented customer services as it works fast and resourcefully when compared to humans.
- Better accessibility to service also improves customer satisfaction. The service is accessible from anywhere using devices such as mobile phones, tablets and laptops. According to preference, the customer can choose either chatbots or voice assistance to meet their needs. In the case of chatbots, it reduces the waiting time, unlike calls and guarantees an instant reply.
Conversational AIs are spearheading a new revolution in customer service, and their hold in the industry will only grow in the coming years.
