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Tag: chatbots

  • Could Your Small Business Benefit from Using Chatbots?

    Could Your Small Business Benefit from Using Chatbots?

    The mindset of the modern consumer is one of urgency and convenience. Businesses that reply to queries and concerns quickly and without hassle generally earn more customer loyalty and have better brand reputation. And thanks to chatbots, more companies can now be online 24/7 to meet their customer’s needs.

    Chatbot is an amalgamation of the words “chat” and “robot.” Basically, a chatbot is a computer that can have a written conversation with a customer, either online or via SMS. They are used primarily for customer service, marketing, and sales. Most large enterprises have already incorporated chatbot technology into their daily operations, and a growing number of mid-sized and small businesses are following suit. But could your business benefit from using a chatbot? Here’s what you should consider:

    1. You’re Having Difficulty Providing 24/7 Customer Service

    Many businesses want to be able to provide their customers with support 24/7, but are unable to do so because of cost and human limitations. Chatbots go around these constraints. They can remain running all throughout the year. This means there will always be someone to interact with your customers regardless of the time of day.

    2. You Need New Ways to Interact With Customers

    It seems that there’s an app for everything these days. However, people can only devote their time to a limited number of apps, particularly messaging platforms. Instead of rolling out a company app or relaunching your website, you can deploy your chatbot on a messaging site. These robots can be programmed to provide personal and meaningful conversations with customers. What’s more, they can present your brand in much the same way that a real person would.

    The Sydney Opera House’s “Seal Bot” on Facebook Messenger is great at engaging people. It shares facts about the venue’s history as well as information about any upcoming performances or events.

    Image result for sydney opera house seal bot

    Meanwhile, customers can have a dynamic discussion with Nike’s Messenger bot as they customize their sneakers based on their preferred color scheme or while checking out the shop’s different shoe styles.

    Image result for nike messenger bot

    3. Efficiency is a Company Goal

    Chatbots can help make your business run more efficiently. You can automate tedious tasks and free up your employees for more crucial or creative ones. You can also program your chatbot to handle your employees’ human resource concerns, like sick leaves or questions regarding attendance. Bots can even be integrated into programs like Slack. They can assist in managing team projects, streamlining conversations and keeping tasks organized.

    4. Cart Abandonment is Becoming a Concern

    Abandoned carts are a problem a lot of online retailers are familiar with. There are instances when a customer is finalizing their purchase, gets interrupted and is forced to abandon the transaction. Chatbots can cut down on these missed purchases by giving customers gentle reminders. They can even be programmed to suggest other products that could interest the buyer.

    Image result for chatbot cart abandonment

    5. You Want to Build a Better Relationship With Millenials

    Millennials have different expectations when it comes to customer service.  Research revealed that the majority of millennial consumers prefer to resolve their customer service issues by themselves, and 69 percent feel good when a problem is solved without having to talk to a customer service representative. They prefer self-service solutions that chatbots can provide. If your company caters to this demographic or you want to target them, then automating your customer support is a good move.

    Chatbots can provide you with two key benefits—market presence and good customer service. These two things can make a big difference if you’re the owner of a small or medium-sized business. But make sure you first take the time to come up with a strategy for using a chatbot efficiently and in a way that also communicates your brand’s vision and personality.

    [Featured image via Pixabay]

  • Facebook is Now Teaching Bots How to Negotiate…and Lie

    Facebook is Now Teaching Bots How to Negotiate…and Lie

    Facebook has built a massive pool of bots that reside in their messenger app. These bots were trained to answer basic questions and perform basic commands based on text to dialogue recognition. While the bots held a lot of promise, it was obvious that they still had a lot to learn before they can fluently converse with humans.

    After recognizing the flaws with the initial roll out, the company reinstated the menu option and went back to the drawing board. Facebook then played around with a combination of native language learning and machine learning that are more commonly used in the gaming industry. As a result, they were able to develop an AI that can negotiate on behalf of and with humans.

    How did Facebook achieve such a feat? They built two bots and presented them with several objects: two books, one hat, and three balls. Each bot was programmed with a hidden preference, and their goal was to compromise with each other until they reach a point where they can both walk away with what they want.

    This experiment was conducted by the Facebook Artificial Intelligence Research (FAIR) group in collaboration with the Georgia Institute of Technology. The group now claims that they have the code that will teach bots how to negotiate.

    While this technology holds a lot of promise, there’s no denying that there is still a lot of room for improvements since the experiment is only at its initial stages. According to some experts, while the code did teach bots how to negotiate, it also taught them to lie (by putting false emphasis on an object) in order to achieve their goal. If a business owner decides to integrate these cunning bots into their current business model, they are bound to encounter some problems.

    It also showed signs of excessive willingness to concede just to achieve a decent gain, which may result in bad business decisions.

    Despite its flaws, the bots built for this exercise showcased extensive conversational skills that were far superior to any bots in operation today. They showed a capability to construct complex sentences and form a deep understanding of the messages being delivered to them.

    The researchers at FAIR said that they will continue to improve the bot’s ability to form more competitive reasoning strategies while further broadening their understanding of the native language. This means that we are bound to see more eloquent bots capable of negotiating deals in the future.

  • Twitter Rolls Out New Chatbot Feature for Businesses

    Twitter Rolls Out New Chatbot Feature for Businesses

    Twitter has introduced a new chatbot feature for companies to promote their brands, and they are hoping that these businesses and their customers stay on the platform for their real-time interactions.

    This new platform allows brands to customize the experience for each customer. Interaction between the brands and their customers are initiated using the “Direct Message Card” in their Twitter accounts. Companies can also customize these chatbots through an avatar or video.

    The gimmick seems to work as Patron Tequila, one of the companies that first made use of Twitter’s new offering, generated a lot of buzz when it shared what the chatbots can do. The two “bartenders” featured on the Patron account will guide customers on what cocktail to order, as well as any relevant information on the many flavors available.

    Consumers can also interact with the brand administrator of the Twitter account if they have some questions. Among the other features of the Twitter chatbots are welcome messages, geotagging, customized profiles, and quick replies.

    Twitter is coming in a bit late to the ballgame, however, as chatbots are already being utilized by Facebook and Microsoft via Skype and LinkedIn. Facebook even boasts of having AI-tech for its chatbots because of their speech-to-text and language processing capabilities.

    Though it’s not clear what Twitter plans to do with its chatbots in the near future, for now, it’s deviating from the business models of Facebook and Microsoft. Instead of trying to drive business, the company aims to bring brands and their customers closer together by introducing some levity to the interactions.

    Right now, the Twitter chatbots are still in a beta stage and are limited to advertisers. Even so, it’s hard to see the bots as more than just a gimmick since they really don’t add any significant value other than promotions. However, brands have been asking their customers to share their experience with the bots in order to gauge their appeal.

    Twitter also has yet to release details on what exactly their new chatbots are capable of. For instance, it is still unknown if they have some sort of machine learning capabilities, apart from the main input code, or if they recognize patterns while also initiating conversations with customers.

    The jury is still out on how brands will accept the new Twitter chatbots, considering the version rolled out by Facebook disappointed users because they found it difficult to navigate, and the interaction wasn’t as engaging.

  • Turing Test Passed by Chatbot Simulating a 13-Year-Old

    Turing Test Passed by Chatbot Simulating a 13-Year-Old

    Computer science researchers this week revealed that the road to artificial intelligence (AI) has been paved a bit further. A computer algorithm developed in Saint Petersburg, Russia passed the Turing test at an event at the Royal Society of London this weekend.

    The Turing test, laid out by computer scientist Alan Turing in 1950, is a method by which researchers determine how human-like a computer can be. The test involves humans interacting with the computer in a blind test and evaluating whether they believe it to be human.

    The algorithm that passed the test is a chatbot named Eugene. The program attempts to simulate what it would be like to have a conversation with a 13-year-old boy.

    Eugene convinced around one-third of the 30 judges at the event that it was actually a 13-year-old boy. According to the rules of the event, a score of over 30% is considered a success.

    There is some controversy, however, as to whether Eugene is the first program to successfully pass the Turing test. Critics point out that another chatbot named Cleverbot passed the Turing test back in 2011 – and with nearly 60% of its judges believing it to be human. The fact that Eugene only simulates a 13-year-old is also a point of contention.

    “Some will claim that the Test has already been passed,” said Kevin Warwick, a professor at the University of Reading, which organized the event. “The words Turing Test have been applied to similar competitions around the world. However this event involved the most simultaneous comparison tests than ever before, was independently verified and, crucially, the conversations were unrestricted. A true Turing Test does not set the questions or topics prior to the conversations. We are therefore proud to declare that Alan Turing’s Test was passed for the first time on Saturday.”

    Eugene has been under development since 2001. The program’s lead developer, Vladimir Veselov, stated that the team’s idea was for Eugene to be able to speak about anything, but have its claimed age disguise holes in its knowledge.

    “We spent a lot of time developing a character with a believable personality,” said Vesselov. “This year we improved the ‘dialog controller’ which makes the conversation far more human-like when compared to programs that just answer questions. Going forward we plan to make Eugene smarter and continue working on improving what we refer to as ‘conversation logic.’”

    Image via the University of Reading