Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the new wave of technological innovations that is shaping the future. The familiarity of AI started from entertainment mediums such as movies and games from a few decades ago. After that first applications were made in pattern or picture recognition where Brain Station employees gathered first experience about it. Now the usage of AI is more prevalent than ever. Businesses have integrated AI into many facets- from shaping future business decisions to adding to customer experience. Now AI is a staple in any industry, and can be found implemented in a number of different places for us: whether for commercial or personal.
Speech recognition was one of the initial cornerstones for AI. AI chatbots are now being implemented on numerous fronts. There are two different types of chatbots, the one being rule based – answering predetermined questions. The other is the intelligent chatbot, powered by Artificial Intelligence. AI chatbots are used to humanize automated customer services. Through Machine Learning AI chatbots pick up the nuances and responses of human behavior over time. They learn it and bring a human touch to the automated customer services.
Why Use an AI Chatbot
One of the biggest benefits chatbots bring to the table is the automated customer service. Customers can come with their query at any time as the services will be available 24/7. And unlike humans, chatbots are able to provide consistent answers to any given query numerous times. The answers are always instant, and the interactions are always recorded for the company to tailor their AI chatbot to best suit customers. And with an AI chatbot, the call-to-action interfaces will be readily available, making transactions instant. Also being programmable, AI chatbots can be programmed to arrange meetings with buyers. And through the power of Machine Learning, the chatbots will constantly improve themselves to better suite needs of the customers.
According to Juniper Research, the banking industry will be saving $7.3 billion by 2023 by implementing AI powered automated customer services.
Not to mention how much expenses are being saved by businesses who incorporate AI chatbots. According to Juniper Research, the banking industry will be saving $7.3 billion by 2023 by implementing AI powered automated customer services. AI chatbots increase sales and interaction for enterprises. And a chatbot is also a new way to reach out to new customers. Facebook has over 300k chatbots integrated. These AI chatbots interact especially with young consumers, who are the regular majority using social media platforms. AI chatbots come with integrated analytics. With the help of these analytics, businesses get a better understanding of their consumers and their behavior. Companies can tune the interaction of customers with their chatbots and target potential customers. AI chatbots will show the highest recorded pain points of the consumers, so companies know where to focus and improve their products and services.
Another reason why chatbots get more and more popular is the trend towards personal devices. Those devices – compared to a PC – have limited screen sizes like a smartphone or a smartwatch. The future interaction of the consumer with those devices will be via speech: input and output. That makes the smart device a real companion.
SOURCE: AI Multiple
Our Work with AI Chatbots
We at Brain Station have experience in developing both intelligence based (AI enabled) and rule based chatbots. The chatbot is built up according to the business need, where in most cases it is based on the common queries from the FAQ. We develop the bots according to our client’s specification, where areas of development include how the conversation flows, what information to show, and how much autonomy the bot will have. For a global leading bio-pharmaceutical enterprise, we develop currently a rule based chatbot for navigating through their web pages. That makes it easier for the doctors to communicate with the company and to retrieve valuable information about the company’s medical products.
Our typical development journey starts with fully defined requirements given by our clients. The data input for the bot programming is done by putting question sets. The bot intent is to be set next by analyzing the input and the intents are classified by the question sets based on different subjects. Then all the information is funneled out based on the different subjects. This way the conversation is mapped for the bot. As the development progresses, the requirements of the project may not meet the initial expectations- which is done by troubleshooting the bot and letting it get familiar with the different inputs. The development is done through constant feedback and data sharing between us and our clients. And over time the developed bot will be able to function properly, and through Machine Learning, will be able to give out expected answers (outputs) for the questions.
On that basis we also developed an AI enabled chatbot for Germany. This chatbot can guide you to the nearest gas station anywhere in Germany. So the inputs for this chatbot will be your current location and what sort of fuel you are looking for. And thus the output is the nearest gas station based on your inputs. Like any other AI based chatbot system, this chatbot solution learned the locations and conversation patterns through Machine Learning.
SOURCE: Brain Station
But then again there is a dark side to AI development. A sophisticated AI solution may start to give out unexpected answers or behaviors. Just like in the movies, the AI can be self-aware by picking up information or habits that structures the bot with off-script outputs. The results of such can be hilarious or frightening. Whether the machines will turn against us in some distant future is yet to be seen. But what can be said now is that when developing AI enabled identities such as chatbots, the inputs and learning has to be thorough so the AI chatbot processing does not veer off to an unwanted direction. Brain Station is fully aware of those complexities and has gained a lot of experience to support clients where regulatory restrictions apply.
AI Chatbot Trends
According to Gartner, Artificial Intelligence will become the mainstream investment for customer experience in the coming years. Gartner predicts 47% of organizations will deploy AI chatbots in the customer services front, and 40% will implement AI enabled assistance. AI chatbots are being heavily implemented in banking, services desks, law enforcement, and organizational usage. In a statistics findings by Outgrow regarding chatbots, banks can automate 90% of their services by using AI chatbots. Another statistic from invesp shows that chatbots can cut down on 30% of the costs and increase customer response time by 80%.
After much research, here are some of my predictions on how AI chatbots may evolve in the future-
- More Humanized AI Chatbot-this effect can be seen in most AI chatbots now. In the future AI chatbots will be able to interact with users with more human tendencies and engage in intelligent conversations. Chatbot can pick up human behavior more effectively through Sentiment Analysis and construct appropriate responses.
- Use of Artificial Intelligence in Contact Centers- as AI chatbots have saved costs and sped up operations for many businesses, further implementation of these solutions is evident in the future. With 24/7 availability, AI contact centers can automate business operations and streamline customer services.
- Voice Bots- as the popularity of Amazon’s Alexa shows, voice bots are the thing of the future. These bots are AI enabled and offer a more engaging interaction for people. Voice bots are the new avenues for personalization, and businesses like banks have started implementing these.
- AI Inclusion in Social Media Platforms- as we already know, Facebook has over 300,000 AI chatbots at the moment. And the number of platforms and accounts using AI chatbots will only increase. Many businesses account’s will have AI chatbot integration as social media is a popular platform for users to inquire about products and services.
- Increased AI Chatbot Implementation- AI chatbots are being implemented in different usage for improved user experience. AI chatbot is already being heavily used for automating payment systems. And in the future, these integrations can be seen in more regular activities like scheduling, education, and health.
- Internal Organizational Usage Ai chatbots can streamline processes and save running costs for businesses. Chatbots are predicted to be implemented in areas such as HR, employee initiations, and internal help desks.
AI chatbots are at the forefront of streamlining customer experience. And the integration of this solution will very much expand in the future. We at Brain Station have valuable experience on how to integrate AI powered chatbots effectively. Contact us to make the best solution for your business needs!