Chatbot vs Virtual Assistant: Technology Comparison in 2023

An AI chatbot is a program within a website or app that uses machine learning (ML) and natural language processing (NLP) to interpret inputs and understand the intent behind a request. It is trained on large data sets to recognize patterns and understand natural language, allowing it to handle complex queries and generate more accurate results. Additionally, an AI chatbot can learn from previous conversations and gradually improve its responses. To make an informed decision and select the most suitable solution for your business, it’s essential to consider various factors. Chatbots, being rule-based and simpler, are generally more cost-effective to set up and maintain.

Most bots on the other hand only know what the customer explicitly tells them, and likely make the customer manually input information that the company or service should already have. Another fantastic example of Conversational AI in action is the Payment Refund Chatbot developed for a popular fast-casual Mexican dining chain in North America. By extending the existing Conversational AI solution, the Chatbot intelligently gathers information method, issue details, and initial payment, making precise refund decisions. The results have been outstanding, with agent escalation dropping between 42% and 66%, leading to $10.2 million in refund cost savings. The Chatbot’s success is attributed to its sophisticated business logic, which provides consistent and clear refund rules, improving customer satisfaction and operational efficiency. Exemplifying the power of Conversational AI in the telecom industry is the Telecom Virtual Assistant developed by Master of Code Global for America’s Un-carrier.

Natural Language Processing

Rule-based chatbots excel in handling specific tasks or frequently asked questions with predefined answers. They are suitable for simple, straightforward interactions, such as providing basic information or performing routine tasks like order tracking. Conversely, Conversational AI goes beyond task-oriented responses and engages users in more sophisticated conversations. It can understand intent, context, and user preferences, offering personalized interactions and tailored experiences to users. Conversational AI encompasses a variety of advanced technologies designed to facilitate interactive and human-like conversations with users. One of the most prominent types is the Conversational AI chatbot, which employs NLP and AI to engage users, respond to queries, and execute tasks seamlessly.

As a business, whether you should go with a chatbot or conversational AI technology entirely depends on your goals and requirements. But there is no denying that conversational AI is far better technology than a traditional chatbot. Despite that, there are certain processes and tasks where a bot would seem more suitable and vice versa. From the above, it’s amply clear that conversational AI is a more powerful technology compared to chatbots. In fact, we have learned how a chatbot needs conversational AI technology to act smarter and become more intelligent. However, we should note that not all chatbots use conversational AI technology so not all will be powerful.

What’s the difference between chatbots and conversational AI?

There are these traditional chatbots that can perform only a limited number of tasks, which usually involve responding to common FAQs. Conversation AI enables you to perform much more things efficiently rather than translating web content into chatbot responses. Conversational AI uses a dialog flow system to provide a more advanced and exceptional service experience in human-bot interaction. Simply put, it refers to a set of artificial intelligence technologies that facilitates’ intelligent’ communication between computers and humans.

Bots are tools designed to assist the user, by performing a variety of tasks. Many bots can be found on social networking sites, search engines, streaming platforms, news aggregators, and forums like Reddit. This is because conversational AI offers many benefits that regular chatbots simply cannot provide.

Meaning it goes above and beyond what a conventional chatbot offers which are limited to question-and-answer based programming in a single language. Conversational AI enables users to communicate in multiple languages, using their natural language and word choice and the BOT will detect the language and respond back in the same language. Conversational AI is different in that it can not only help you with customer service tasks like chatbots but also help you complete longer-running tasks.

One of the most common questions customers will ask about is the status of their shipment. Finally, conversational AI can enable superior customer service across your company. This means more cases resolved per hour, a more consistent flow of information, and even less stress among employees because they don’t have to spend as much time focusing on the same routine tasks. But business owners wonder, how are they different, and which one is the right choice for your organizational model? We’ll break down the competition between chatbot vs. Conversational AI to answer those questions.

However, a typical source of dissatisfaction for people who interact with bots is that they do not always understand the context of conversations. In fact, according to a report by Search Engine Journal, 43% of customers believe that chatbots need to improve their accuracy in understanding what users are asking or looking for. While this is useful, it can also be incredibly frustrating, because nuance is a large part of understanding what exactly a person is asking. They are not intelligent, capable of learning, nor able to formulate answers on their own. The more complex a question is, the less effective chatbots are at answering them.

It allows you to create both rules-based and intent-based chatbots, with the latter using AI and NLP to recognize user intent, process information, and provide a human-like conversational experience. Statistics show over 25% of customers express satisfaction and 32% show neutral responses while using chatbot services. However, relying solely on basic chatbots with rule-bound answers can lead to frustration, with 43% of respondents expressing disappointment in their interactions with chatbots in 2022.

They are also the go-to banking assistants that provide tips on how to make smart investment decisions. You can automate key functions and reduce your operating costs to a great extent. Hence, no service or customer interaction is limited by linguistic differences, making your business accessible to a wider range of customers. A well-trained AI bot will provide accurate responses paving the way for a self-service query resolution. It also offers consistency in the quality of the conversations since it can understand the intents with better accuracy.

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