Chatbot: How do they work? Why are they important?
In this article we are going to get a quick glance on everything about Chatbots.
What is a chatbot ?
A Chatbot (or a bot) is a software developed using the concepts of artificial intelligence (AI). It can initiate a conversation with humans (users) in natural language through chat (messaging) applications, mobile apps, websites, or through telephones. A user can ask various questions to a chatbot or give commands, and it replies to the action requested.
Chatbots are considered as the speakers for artificial intelligence (AI). They’re an accessible form of AI and widely used in various business platforms across the world.
They are commonly implemented in different chat mediums such as chat windows, SMS, social messaging services across platforms like instagram, twitter, and facebook: to send and receive messages.
How do Chatbots Work?
Chatbots respond based on user inputs. The procedure may look easier, but while implementing, things get quite complex or difficult. Task performed by them — the primary focus is to identify the user’s request and extract data which is relevant.
The data that is stored in enterprise (business) systems.
- A text retrieved from a knowledge base.
- A predefined and generic text.
- The result obtained by interacting with one or more back-end applications.
- A contextualized information provided by user.
What is the purpose of Chatbots?
Chatbots are the most advanced and expressive communication softwares that interact with humans. Technically, chatbots usually represent the traditional Questioning and Answering system.
These are being used as assistants to consumers for shopping online, either to answer about products or to provide useful information for the consumer who searches for shipping price and availability.
Chatbots Architecture
A chatbot that answers a user’s request should be smart enough so that it can engage the user to continue the conversation. It doesn’t have to remember all the conversational details.
There are different models involved in the architecture of bots. The choice of architecture depends on the model you choose. Bots are classified into:
- Entertainment bots
- Business bots
Entertainment bots
One way to assess these bots is the Turing test, i.e., comparing them with humans and the other ways are metrics, quantitative, assessing the minimum length of conversation between the bot and the user, and maximum time spent by a user.
Business bots
Often, businesses are transactional, and have a specific purpose. In this kind of chatbots, conversation is focused much on users’ needs. For example, chatbot developed by travel business companies like Trivago, Makemytrip, Goibibo will provide an information about hotels, flights, tours, and help in finding the best packages according to users preferences.
Types of Models in Chatbots
There are three types of models in developing chatbots.
- Retrieval-based models
- Pattern-based heuristics
- Generative models
Retrieval-based models
These models are much easy to build and give more predictable responses. These are not 100% accurate in providing responses, but you need to make sure that there are no grammatical mistakes in responses.
These are more practical, and many algorithms and APIs are available for developers.
For a detailed explanation on Retrieval-based models Click here.
Pattern-based heuristics
These are for choosing a response, and it can be done in many ways, based on machine learning classifiers to simple if-else logical conditions. Here, uncomplicated technology is used to set of rules, using patterns.
This type of models are very popular for entertainment bots. AI and ML programming languages are widely used for response templates, and writing patterns.
For a detailed explanation on Pattern-based heuristics Click here.
Generative models
These models are the base for future chatbots, and they make them smarter and more interactive. These models are not widely in use, and are mostly in developing stage.
Advantages of Chatbots
The advantages of chatbots are as follows.
- They are capable of engaging customers in a friendly manner
- A simpler interface makes it easy to interact.
- Interactions are made possible via social media platforms like twitter, facebook chats through application programming interfaces (APIs)
- They have extraordinary capabilities in handling customer queries.
- Work efficiently round the clock for customer service.
Future Scope of Chatbots
The use of chatbots has certainly gained strength over the past few years. At present, it appears that virtual reality, and augmented reality will play an important role in software development.
When more and more companies start developing APIs to integrate chatbots within their ecosystem for communications, then there exists a demand for bots that can interact among multiple platforms. Therefore, we can expect a rise in SDKs, and frameworks that help developers in building API-driven voice bots.
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This article is originally published on Mindmajix
