Chatbots: How to use them

20

October

2023

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Hi! Welcome friend!
Sefi here, how can I help you today?

How should I use chatbots as a consumer?

Continue reading my friend 🙂

In the age of automation and artificial intelligence, chatbots have become an integral part of our digital interactions with companies. By now most us have encountered or used chatbots, whether that was chatGPT or a customer service chatbot. Chatbots are virtual conversational agents, designed to assist with tasks, answer questions, and provide customer support (IBM, z.d.). Businesses are now increasingly using chatbots to provide customer service. While they promise the convenience of instant responses and round-the-clock availability, our experiences with chatbots are very mixed. Let’s explore the good and the bad sides of these helpers.

The Good: Always Ready To Help

Chatbots with their 24/7 availability and rapid response times, are often celebrated for their efficiency. Whether you need assistance with a purchase, a quick answer to a common question, or help with a technical issue, chatbots are always ready there to help. This convenience eliminates the barriers to communication with a company. No need to go through the time-consuming processes of phone calls or emails.

I use chatbots like they are a mini search engines that are company specific. When you ask it common questions they are capable of swiftly retrieving pre-programmed information. Usually it will redirect you to a webpage where you can find said information. This streamlined approach can significantly enhance user experiences in situations where a quick answer is all that’s needed (IBM, z.d.). However, when you ask it long and ‘complicated’ questions that is when the limitations of a chatbot become apparent.

The Bad: Complexity of Questions

At times we can embrace the convenience and efficiency they offer, other times we can find ourselves frustrated by the limitations of these digital helpers. Especially, with inquiries that are lengthy and complex. Engaging in a nuanced conversation with a chatbot is like navigating a maze with incomplete maps. These limitations often become exasperating, especially in scenarios requiring detailed, personalized, or context-rich assistance.

My personal experience reflects this duality. Recently, when I attempted to change the booking for my flight to Singapore, I was met with a chatbot that struggled to comprehend the intricacies of my request. The interaction left me feeling frustrated and eager to connect with a human representative that actually help. It took some time to reach a ‘real person,’ which added to the frustration. This only led to a bad experience as there was no easy path to speak to a human. The study of Følstad & Skjuve (2019) highlighted the importance of an easy follow up with a human customer service representatives to mitigate bad experiences.

The Way Forward

Chatbots are undeniably valuable for streamlining routine interactions, saving time, and providing quick answers. However, for situations that demand empathy, understanding, and nuanced problem-solving, human touch remains irreplaceable. In this ever-changing digital landscape, it is important that businesses are able to navigate the complexities of our interactions with chatbots.

My advice: use the chatbot for simple and common questions & ask the chatbot to speak to a ‘real person’ if your question is complex and lengthy or simply when you desire a more human-like experience.

I hope that answered your question.
Let me know if I can help you with anything else 🙂

Sources

IBM. (z.d.). What is a chatbot? | IBM. https://www.ibm.com/topics/chatbots

Følstad, A., & Skjuve, M. (2019, August). Chatbots for customer service: user experience and motivation. In Proceedings of the 1st international conference on conversational user interfaces (pp. 1-9).

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Chatbot Explosion

18

September

2021

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Chatbots are popping up more and more at companies. As primarily it was used in customer service, but the shift has also taken place in improving customer experience (CX), business efficiencies, and these are just a few to name it. Chatbots are often termed as virtual agents, digital assistants, virtual customer assistants, and conversational AI bots.

Unforgettable COVID-19

COVID-19 is working as a catalyst for 76 percent of enterprises to invest in long-term IT reforms [1]. Due to the COVID-19 situation, businesses are digitizing to safeguard staff and service consumers who are experiencing mobility issues. Artificial intelligence-powered (AI-powered) chatbot spending will reach $78 billion in 2022, a massive increase from the $24 billion forecast in 2018 [1]. Software is the fastest-growing technology category, with AI/cognitive systems accounting for 40% of the market, with a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 43% [1]. Deep learning and machine learning applications (wide applications across all sectors) and conversational AI are the two verticals where investments are concentrated (chatbots, personal assistants, virtual agents, etc.). The United States has the greatest market in conversational AI in terms of size and growth, while Southeast Asia has the fastest CAGR [1]. With increased private equity investment in AI/machine learning, the United States will dominate the incorporation of conversational AI. Furthermore, rising government spending on AI-powered technology will hasten industry expansion. The demand for increased functionality and value is driving an explosion of investment and interest as more consumers and businesses employ chatbots.

Explosion? Why?

When it comes to quick answers, 74% of customers end up choosing AI chatbots [1]. Companies who use AI chatbots in retail have witnessed a 47 percent increase in efficiency, a 40 percent increase in inventiveness, and a 36 percent increase in helpfulness [1]. Increased need for lower AI chatbot development costs, greater customer service, and omni-channel development are all driving growth.

Roadblock?

Although the chatbot market is still in its early stages, Europe lags behind other countries because to data privacy, ethical concerns, fear of failure, and market uncertainty [1]. The language barrier is now the most significant obstacle in the way of chatbots in underdeveloped countries. It would be straightforward if all interactions were conducted in English. Other languages, on the other hand, can be far more sophisticated in terms of syntax and organization. To feel natural to customers and so improve the customer experience, chatbots must be schooled in the complexities of the language [1].

Each organization that commits to a chatbot in its business operations decides for itself the regulations regarding the development of the chatbot. Among other factors, a chatbot can handle sensitive data. So here and there may vary the extent to which the chatbot is transparent.

I personally believe that it should be clearly stated in advance what will be done with the data and in whose hands it ends up. If I would like to use a chatbot myself, the questions will refer to more informative answers that you can get within a split second via the chat. No more and no less.

Now, I am curious to what extent will you trust a chatbot with sharing data (for example, personal data) and why?

[1] Hoang, T. (2021, 17 mei). The AI Chatbot Explosion in Various Regions around the World. Discover.Bot. https://discover.bot/bot-talk/ai-chatbot-in-various-regions/

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DeepDrumpf for the win!

22

October

2016

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The fact that posts coming from Twitter bots are becoming more realistic is exemplified by Deep Drumpf. The Deep Drumpf account on Twitter is built on a deep-learning algorithm known as a recurrent neural network, that is trained on speech transcripts, tweets and debate quotes. The Twitter bot has over 20,000 followers as well as 12 million views. The bot is named after a remark from John Oliver about the laste name of Trump’s ancestors.

The bot was created by Bradley Hayes, a robotics researcher at MIT. Trump was specifically chosen to study as a response to a training model that can simulate Shakespeare, as Hayes argued that it would be a fun process to model while learning modeling techniques. How it works is that the bot creates tweets starting with a random letter and consequently adds the letters that are most likely to follow, until it hits Twitter’s word limit. While the tweets that the bot produces do not always make sense, most of the produced sentences are coherent and recognizable as Trump’s. The bot has even sent replies to messages posted through Trump’s real account, while taking the context of those messages in account.

Hayes has recently added another purpose to the bot. Deep Drumpf campaign website www.deepdrumpf2016.com is now used to raise money for GirlsWhoCode, an organization with the aim of bridging the gender gap in fields such as technology and mathematics.

In the future Hayes wants to develop Twitter accounts for other presidential candidates and make them talk to each other to simulate debates. If you want to judge yourself how good the bot’s algorithm works, go to https://twitter.com/DeepDrumpf. Also feel free to let me know what you  think about this development in the field of Twitter bots and its future.

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/602682/why-im-backing-deep-drumpf-and-you-should-too/

http://www.deepdrumpf2016.com/about.html

http://cs.stanford.edu/people/karpathy/char-rnn/shakespear.txt

 

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How ‘Sweetie 2.0’ will put a stop to the webcam child sex tourism

23

September

2016

5/5 (2) Imagine that at any time of the day around 750.000 men (mostly Western) are looking for online webcam sex with children. This webcam sex tourism is growing rapidly due to increasing popularity of Internet and mobile phones in developing countries. If nothing is done, it is expected to develop into a global industry!

For several years ‘Terre des Hommes’, an organization situated in the Netherlands that works towards a world where children are no longer exploited, has been doing research in order to create awareness on this problem and prevent the growth. After several years of research they introduced Sweetie in 2013. Sweetie is a 10-year-old fictional character from the Philippines. Sweetie is a computer model, made piece by piece by capturing the movements of a real person and applying them onto here. By using a virtual reality application they control her movements. By tracking down the information given by the men on sources such as Google and Facebook they can identify these paedophiles without hacking into their computers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTSDqsQcN2I

Watch this video to see how ‘Sweetie’ works

The outcome of the research was shocking! Terre des Hommes identified over 1000 offenders of webcam sex with children in just two months. Followed by this huge success the United Nations put the subject on the agenda of the Human Rights, Police experts approached the organization with questions about the method of investigation and the first arrests took place. As you can read a proactive approach works and the use of virtual reality technology has influenced the prevention of the webcam child sex industry heavily, thereby it disrupted the investigation methods used by the Police.

Unfortunately, the problem has not been solved structurally, these criminals still find their way. Therefore, Terre des Hommes is, in cooperation with Tracksinspector and supported by international specialists and sponsors, developing a new advanced software that can be implemented worldwide: Sweetie 2.0. The most innovative function of the Sweetie 2.0 software is the use of a personified chat robot (chatbot), which enables Sweetie to actually engage in a dialogue and recognize online paedophiles by the way of responses. So, the disruptive technology continues!

Watch this video to see how ‘Sweetie 2.0’ works

The results of this new software are not yet published but I expect this software and the disruptive technology to put a stop to the growth of this industry eventually! Due to the alignment with national and international frameworks for investigation and prosecution, the worldwide collaboration is possible and Sweetie 2.0 will make the difference!

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