As one of the earliest chatbots to be developed in 1966, ELIZA performed a rather unconventional role for a chatbot back in the day. Developed by German computer scientist and MIT Professor Joseph Weizenbaum, ELIZA was designed to imitate a therapist. Through his experiment, Weizenbaum wanted the chatbot to imitate “the responses of a non-directional psychotherapist in an initial psychiatric interview”. His main intention was to prove that machines and people could interact only on a superficial level but to his surprise, many of those who interacted with ELIZA found her responses to be therapeutic and convincing, much like a human therapist.
Fifty-five years since ELIZA’s breakthrough interaction, the landscape of chatbots and AI-powered intelligent virtual assistants (IVA) has witnessed a phenomenal transformation, echoing English mathematician Alan Turing’s most famous intuition about computers – “It seems probable that once the machine thinking method had started, it would not take long to outstrip our feeble powers…They would be able to converse with each other to sharpen their wits. At some stage therefore, we should have to expect the machines to take control.”
Artificial Intelligence, specifically Machine Learning and Deep Learning, aid computers to self-learn from pre-existing data models and produce new models to repeat the cycle. Chatbots and Virtual Assistants are Conversational AI software designed to provide exceptional user interface experience and drive a gamut of self-service functions across omnichannel platforms. Most of these software are built to understand a close to a billion patterns of human conversations with the response time of a second or even lesser.
Virtual Assistants and Chatbots, albeit similar in certain respects of programming, are different when it comes to analysing the data they have been fed. Chatbots follow a more repetitive Q&A format, helping users to make selections through a pre-advised list of generic questions or data. They are not backed by superior language processing capabilities and that’s why if they are asked a question different than what they are scripted to answer, they would go back to the standard “How may I help you?” pop up.
Virtual Assistants, however, are programmed to look for variables and possibility and predict user queries even before they are asked. They can seamlessly carry human-like conversations because of the data they mine from users through their email accounts, photos, calendars, location, shopping patterns, browsing history as well as by tracking user sentiment. Operating through casual, chat-based voice commands, Virtual Assistants use NLP, Machine Learning and Artificial Emotional Intelligence to support everyday user requirements.
Chatbots are highly relied upon in the retail, financial, food, e-commerce and healthcare industries to facilitate better reach and problem-solving. Most instant messaging apps like Telegram, Facebook Messenger, WeChat, WhatsApp and Slack helps users (businesses and individuals) build bots for publishing news and articles, processing financial transactions, healthcare support or even customer care services for telecom or technology firms. Platforms like Wit.ai, Botsify, Flow Xo, Microsoft Bot Framework also helps users build bots to promote products or send notifications among personal circles.
Owing to the power of voice and deep data extraction, Virtual Assistants trump chatbots in everyday use – amalgamating all human activities upon a single platform. Apple’s Siri, Microsoft’s Cortana, Amazon’s Alexa, Google Assistant, Baidu’s Duer, Samsung’s Bixby and Tencent’s Xiaowei are a few examples of AI-powered voice assistants. According to an April 2020 report, market research firm Grand View Research notes that the global intelligent virtual assistant market is expected to hit $45.1 billion by 2027, expanding at a CAGR of 34.0%.
One of the guiding factors that amplify growth in this segment is the increased use of Text-to-Speech technology, which topped as the highest grossing segment in 2019. The report also finds that this alone will push revenue over $27.1 billion by 2027. Use of intelligent virtual assistants have soared due to smart home and security solutions, BYOD (bring your own device) trends due to lockdown and remote work as well as the wide spread use of smart speakers.
Auto giants such as Daimler, BMW, and Hyundai have adopted integrated voice enabled infotainment systems into their vehicles, the report noted. Amazon’s Echo Auto (launched in January 2020) also focuses on smoother driving experiences through a voice assistant device, it said. In the financial realm, Singapore-based Kasisto’s KAI – a well-known digital experience platform that navigates the language of Banking & Finance – has been a leading option for major brands like DBS, Standard Chartered Bank, Emirates NBD and JP Morgan.
In each of these segments, intelligent virtual assistants (IVA) offer personalized, customer-facing solutions through conversational formats that can be utilized across enterprises for product development and improving user experience. IVA also offers a cost-efficient alternative to data collection over all digital platforms and devices. It has also revolutionized the concept of the ‘service desk’ by accelerating decision-making and bringing solutions right to user’s drawing rooms.
India is a poignant market given the largest consumers of IVA are those using smartphones and smart speakers. A 2020 report by Techarc showed that Amazon Echo led the smart speaker market in India with 91% market share in July-September 2020 followed by Xiaomi (7% share) and Google (2% share). India is also home to 760 million smartphone users as of 2021, a figure poised to reach 973 million by year 2025.
Indian consumers use voice assistants to get updates on travel, destination arrival notifications, daily horoscope reading, safety and security solutions, cooking recipes, tracking cricket scores and even engaging in educational quizzes for fun. Though currently available in only two languages, IVA platforms in India are preparing for a deeper dive by offering its AI powered voice support across all major Indian languages.
Vani (Virtual Assistance by National Informatics Centre) is a Government of India initiative that answers citizen queries on RTO and its licenses, provides status of Consumer Forum Cases and offers doctor’s consultancy over mobile or landline in cases where patients are unable to make personal visits. In March 2020, homegrown Indian Languages NLP and conversational AI company DheeYantra developed virtual assistant Aham! to help people with queries concerning Covid-19 in seven Indian languages, a first in India.
