Chatbots are one of the main real-world business implementations of artificial intelligence (AI) software today, with companies all over the world using them to reduce the need for expensive human interaction with customers.
Debecker tells Verdict that today’s chatbots do away with the small talk to be a lot more functional, designed mainly to serve and solve business-oriented purposes and challenges.
“Sometimes you would be given a reference number on a letter but then you couldn’t use it when the chatbots asks for the number; it would even give the exact same question three times within seconds,” Deegan adds, citing such flaws as detrimental to the trust between customer and brand.
Customer data shared between bot and store as they traverse physical and digital touchpoints echoes the way that today’s chatbots feed back data input by humans to companies to inform future product development.
Computer vision could even help bots “see” how consumers are feeling through their front-facing camera; the audio equivalent known as computer audition could do the same with one’s voice, being able to “analyze the sentiment of how they’re talking to the bot and then being able to tailor the response to that sentiment,” says Penfold.
“No one’s really got that killer app yet; there’s lots of very good chat experiences but I think the next big thing is when it all works together, and it doesn’t matter if you’re using Facebook Messenger or your TV or an Alexa.