chatbot

Microsoft has been forced to make radical changes in the testing of ChatGPT 3.5 in their Bing search engine, after a string of testers published strange and sometimes disconcerting results in their conversation with the chatbot. Conversations with this version of AI will be limited to five chat turns.

By 2026, conversational artificial intelligence (AI) deployments within contact centres will reduce agent labour costs by $80 billion, according to Gartner. Worldwide end-user spending on conversational AI solutions within contact centres is forecast to reach $1.99 billion in 2022.

IBM artificial intelligence partner Spacetime released a new “plug and play” avatar-based virtual assistant (chatbot). Powered by IBM Watson artificial intelligence the solution allows customers to select an avatar of their choice, ranging from simple animated cartoon characters right through to hyper-realistic digital humans. The company says avatars make chatbots far more engaging and helps companies represent their brand to customers better.

More and more companies are using chatbots in customer services. Due to advances in artificial intelligence and natural language processing, chatbots are often indistinguishable from humans when it comes to communication. But should companies let their customers know that they are communicating with machines and not with humans?

Chatbots have already become a part of our everyday lives with their quick and intuitive way to complete tasks like scheduling and finding information using natural language conversations. Researchers at Aalto University have now harnessed the power of chatbots to help designers and developers develop new apps and allow end users to find information on the apps on their devices.

In customer service it is important to achieve an equilibrium between automation and the human touch. A robot can be of great value. But there comes a point where humans provide the added value, and are able to prevent frustration by the customer. We talked about bots and customer service with Darren Parker,  Director EMEA Enterprise Customer Success at Zendesk. The key is the classic ‘know your customer’.

Conversational AI platform Paradox has acquired Spetz.io, an Israeli startup with a chatbot for candidate communications. According to Paradox this lays the foundation an R&D center in EMEA.