For those of you who don’t have a clue about what a chatbot is, this blog is definitely for you. The name implies that, yes, you will be chatting with a robot, more or less…
What is a Chatbot?
A chatbot is an automated tool used to mimic human conversation.
Chatbots first made their appearance in 1966. I’m sure that’s not what you expected to read, but it is indeed true.
They are used in the following ways:
- On social media to connect with an audience
- In mobile games
- On business websites
- On numerous digital platforms with millions of users
The most common place to find them is on websites. Not all chatbots function the same way. Depending on the software and intended purpose of the chatbot, the reliability of such a tool varies from one to another.
There are no humans involved. It’s crazy to think that once upon a time people imagined the future to be full of flying cars and talking robots. Well it seems that half of that futuristic image is already here.
How do Chatbots Work?
Chatbots are able to communicate with individuals through Natural Language processing (NLP). The chatbot receives the text from the person typing to them and interprets it in a way that a human would. The end product is an answer which hopefully satisfies your needs or request.
My Experience with Chatbots
I personally have encountered a chatbot on a service providers website, Vodacom. To say the least it definitely caught my eye as it was my first time seeing a chatbot. My prior experiences with customer services were not the best so instead of calling or emailing them, I used the chatbot. For the most part it was fairly helpful, up until the point where it instructed me to contact customer services. Back to square one.
Nevertheless I was impressed at how these automated software tools were put in place to help me. Younger folk would most likely experiment with a chatbot whereas the elderly will probably opt for the traditional phone call.
Conclusion
Chatbots seem to be the future of customer services and may just take over more human jobs. These occurrences may have been thought to be impossible, but the future is now.
A bit about the author
My name is Cameron Fisher and I am a second-year student. I love being outdoors and trying different foods in different locations around my city. I enjoy a good game of soccer and just watching sports in general. I always wanted to get into boxing but maybe one day I’ll give it a go. I’m still new to the blogging scene but that’s it from me for now.
