The ability for machines to demonstrate intelligence is known as artificial intelligence. Artificial Intelligence is also a branch of computer science concerned with developing a smart machine capable of performing a variety of tasks that usually requires human intelligence.  

Al is also an interdisciplinary science made with multiple approaches, but advancement in deep learning and machine learning have created a virtual paradigm shift in every sector of the IT industry. Some of the specific artificial intelligence applications include machine vision, speech recognition, natural language processing, and expert systems.  

The Al programming mainly focuses on three cognitive skills: self-correction, reasoning, and learning. The self-correction processes programming of artificial intelligence programming is designed to fine-tune and read algorithms and provide accurate results. Reasoning processes of artificial intelligence programming mainly focus on selecting the right algorithm for deriving the desired outcome. Whereas the learning processes of artificial intelligence mainly focus on creating rules and acquiring data for providing actionable information.  

How does Artificial Intelligence Work? 

Artificial Intelligence works by combining data with iterative, fast processing and intelligent algorithms, which allow the software to learn and decode automatically from the features and patterns present in the data. Al is also a vast field of study that involves various techniques, methods, and theories. Listed below are major subfields of artificial intelligence: 

• Machine learning – is the process that automates building analytical models. It uses various methods from physics, operation research, statistics, and neural networks to discover hidden insights without explicitly being guides for what to conclude or where to look.  

• Neural Network – the neural network is a machine learning process made out of interconnected units that derive necessary information by responding to inputs and relaying data between each unit. This process requires numerous passes at a particular data to find derived meaning and connection from the undefined data.  

• Deep learning – this process involves using large neural networks with multiple layers of processing units. It also takes advantage of advanced computing power and training techniques to crack complex figures and patterns. Its common application includes speech and image recognition.  

• Cognitive computing is one of the subfields of artificial intelligence that stripes human-like, natural interaction with computers. Making use of cognitive computing and artificial intelligence, the goal is to build a machine that can stimulate every human process and have the ability to interpret speeches and images and later provide coherent speech responses.  

• Computer vision – this process relies on deep learning and pattern recognition to recognize what’s in a video or a picture. When machines can analyze, process, and understand videos and images, we can easily capture pictures in real-time and interrupt their surroundings.  

• Natural Language Processing is the ability of a machine to analyze, generate, and understand human language. The advanced stage of NLP involves natural interaction, which helps humans communicate with the machine by using everyday language to perform various tasks. 

What are Artificial Intelligent Chatbots? 

People often confuse terms like AI virtual assistant, automation, and chatbot. However, there is a key difference between chatbots and Al chatbots; that difference involves understanding the major difference between automation and artificial intelligence.  

Al chatbots are fascinating discoveries, as they are right on top of human Intelligence and artificial Intelligence. As a result, Al chatbots can help perform various tasks in today’s world, be it ordering a pizza or guiding one through a difficult sales process.  

Al chatbots can easily understand languages outside of pre-programmed commands and continue learning more and more based on its information. They can make necessary changes according to the patterns and become more knowledgeable over time by experiencing new situations.   

To summarize it all, Al chatbots are trained to operate independently by using a process called Natural Language Processing, along with the annotation of human information and artificial intelligence.  

How Do Chatbots Work? 

Some of the most common chatbots interaction usually occurs on a business website. For example, the customer service chatbots usually appear on the screen when human users search around a particular website for a few minutes or show any behavior that explains that the user is lost or is having trouble collecting the information they need.  

Once the chatbot window appears on the human user’s screen, the user can easily enter the query in a simple, syntactical English language. Then, the chatbot’s language recognition tool will break down that question and quickly compare the entered query with its data bank to search for ways to provide the customer a satisfying result and evaluate suggestions.  

How Prevalent are All Chatbots? 

The usage of Al Chatbots in customer service factors has increased up to 31.7%. It is believed that in the next five years, over 80% of businesses will make chatbots available on their official websites. If you are willing to keep up with the upcoming competition, make sure you utilize an effective Al application for your company. 

According to the report presented by CX Transformation Benchmark for the year 2020, more than 70% of companies have agreed that Al chatbots have made it easier for their customers to get their queries resolved, and more than 40% of companies indicated that they would surely invest their money in Al chatbots customer-facing services in the coming future. 

Best Al Chatbots Features 

To help you know more about Al chatbots, we have put together a few chatbots features.  

• Truly conversational- a conversational chatbot completely understands the user’s intentions, no matter how difficult the sentence is, and can also ask back the questions to remove confusion or simply discover more about the user’s needs. Chatbots require memory to reuse important information throughout the entire conversation for personalization or context purposes.

•  Development control- by implementing a chatbot application with a certain level of control, companies can avoid silly mistakes and provide a safety net for or manage unexpected queries during a conversation, ensuring a smoother experience for customers.  

• Hybrid Model- a hybrid chatbot model combines both machine learning and linguistic model in the best way and allows the organization to build an application, with or without required data. The hybrid model also ensures that the entire chatbot system maintains a correct and consistent behavior and personality aligned with the organization’s objectives.  

• Unique personalization- by personalizing all the automated conversations, businesses will provide a more accurate response and increase their customer engagement rate.  

• Data security: Data security is an important consideration for any business organization, particularly while dealing with customers’ personal information and regulatory frameworks. Along with data security, Al chatbots’ flexibility is also an essential part of meeting today’s legal requirements and security conditions. 

Benefits of Al Chatbots in 2021 

The benefits of Al chatbots are not just limited to 24*7 availability. According to surveys and reports on chatbots’ benefits, various chatbot consultancies, agencies, and vendors build one of the most comprehensive lists of Al Chatbots benefits.  

Benefits to Companies 

• Cost savings: 

Companies urgently need to maintain the customer service department by using capable chatbots that can handle complex queries. A certain amount of investment cost is required for the chatbot implementation. However, the cost of implementing chatbots is much lower than salaries paid to a customer representative, education, and infrastructure. Apart from the cost of implementation, the extra charges are quite low.  

• Increased sales: 

Chatbots can also act as frictionless platforms for individuals that have recommendations to smartly introduce customers to their new services and products. The 24*7 availability services by chatbots can easily boost companies’ sales numbers. Many customers hate the idea of waiting for the next available representatives to solve their queries, affecting companies’ sales numbers. Many business organizations have claimed that chatbots helped in increasing their sales number by 67%.  

• Enhancing customer interaction:  

Chatbots are capable of providing companies with an alternative channel to reach out to their customers. Chatbots can be used to increase customer engagement rates with timely offers and tips. When a customer communicates with the chatbots, he/she can find proper answers and solutions along with the various evaluated suggestions.  

• Attracting new customers: 

Chatbots platforms such as Facebook messenger or Kiks are among the popular applications. Such platforms help the companies interact with those unwilling to connect via calls or email. According to the survey report presented by Telus International, more than 30% of millennials responded or gave their feedback via social media platforms.  

• Developing a deeper understanding with customers: 

Customers want to communicate with the companies. Chatbots help the company by providing detailed information and actionable records of your consumer’s pain points, through which the company can improve its services and products. Chatbots are an optimal tool for business organizations to learn about their customer’s needs and expectations. With the help of the information provided by the chatbot-consumer interaction, companies can easily plan customer-specific targets. The chatbots also help companies collect valuable feedback and improve and plan their new products and services.  

  Benefits to Customers

• 24*7 availability: 

According to various studies, up to 50% of customers expect companies to be available for them 24/7. Therefore, organizing 24/7 customer services or response systems can develop a continuous flow of communication between the customer and the seller. However, this benefit is directly proportional to how well the chatbots are. Chatbots that are unable to solve simple queries fail to satisfy customers even after 24*7 availability.  

•  Consistent answers: 

Communicating with a customer service representative, a customer has no clue that other representatives also provide consistent responses. If particular customer services are not helpful, a customer can be tempted enough and try calling again to check whether the next representative is better.  

• Instant answers: 

An operator can only attend to one customer at a time and solve a single query. However, an Al chatbot can easily answer thousands of queries at the same time. Moreover, an effective software mechanism and the cloud internet’s good speed help the chatbot provide instant response. 

• Recorded answer: 

While communicating with the customer service representatives, a customer receives no recorded clip of the conversation, and most of the individuals would prefer that the conversation is not recorded. However, while using chatbots, a customer can easily screenshot the conversation whenever he/she likes, record or remember the conversation, or even challenge a particular answer provided by the chatbot.  

• Endless patience: 

While customers and customer representatives may sometimes lose their calm, that’s something that chatbots are not capable of. The impatient behavior of both the customer and the representative during the conversation is a human-related drawback. The customer representative is expected to be calmer and patient to keep the customers satisfied. Chatbots capable of showing the patient that humans cannot provide. Chatbots can easily solve human-sourced services problems directly.

• Instant transactions:  

  Particular actions like querying or changing the record are highly instantaneous for chatbots, significantly improving companies’ customer services. 

• Personalization: 

A customer service specialist or a chatbot is more likely to behave like your hairdresser, keeping a record of your personal or love life, and sometimes even behaving like a psychologist for individuals who are facing difficulties while opening up. However, Al chatbots can provide a more personalized experience than customer service specialists who have no time for preparing for your queries and need to understand the root of the problem during the conversation. At the same time, a chatbot can simply search through your interaction history with the company and deliver a personalized experience.  

• Programmability:  

 As chatbot developers make chatbots that are used on platforms where people spend the maximum amount of their time working, chatbots can perform common tasks such as providing advanced-level search functionality or arranging a meeting.  

Which Chatbot Application is Right for You? 

There are various tools and approaches one can use to develop an ideal chatbot application. There are many chatbot development companies that are active which can provide you with desired options. Upon the purpose you want to fulfill, some of the chatbot applications are more appropriate and effective than others. One must combine different forms, such as semantic understanding, machine learning, and natural language processing, to achieve the desired outcome.  

Make sure you install a truly conversational chatbot application, have chatbot development control, solve enterprise-grade queries, and have a unique personalization. A hybrid chatbot will ensure that the entire chatbot system maintains a correct and consistent behavior and personality aligned with the organization’s objectives.  

 Why are businesses using chatbots? 

Companies love to use chatbots instead of customer service representatives as they are an easy and direct way to reach out to more and more customers and provide them with great products and services. On the other side, chatbots have immense potential to reduce the need for human staff and ensure that human support is only called in when in need of expertise.  

Chatbots provide faster services and provide comprehensive services that can reduce working hours per ticket compared to human professionals. It also protects the rate of investment without hindering the quality of services provided to the customers.  

Apart from the above-listed benefits, chatbots are an incredible source for gathering important data to help the organization understand their customer’s queries, the most common problem faced by website visitors, and collect the general public opinion on their brand. In today’s data-driven market, such insights help the organization plan better initiatives and design better products and chatbot services that can meet the customer’s expectations and needs.  

 In conclusion, artificial intelligence is a branch of computer science concerned with developing a smart machine capable of performing various tasks that usually require human intelligence. At the same time, Al chatbots are trained to operate independently by using a process called Natural Language Processing, along with the annotation of human information and artificial intelligence. In this article, we have listed all the necessary information related to artificial intelligence, how artificial intelligence works, what Al chatbots are, and how they work. Along with that, we have also listed chatbots’ essential features and their benefits for both businesses and customers.