Chatbots vs Conversational AI: What’s the Difference?
Confused between chatbots and conversational AI? Discover the key differences, features, and which AI solution is right for your business. Learn how iNextLabs can help. Originally Published by iNextLabs
Conversational AI and chatbots are not synonymous terms. It's loud and clear.
Both terms are often used interchangeably to describe the same meaning, which is valid to some extent, but their differences are glaring. Let's start with learning the meaning and then dig into the similarities and differences between conversational AI and chatbots.
What is a Chatbot?
As we know, chatbots are a pre-determined flow that could simulate a conversation using a script. Since they only serve particular purposes and are meant to follow a specific flow, they are easy to build. Chatbots are basically of two types: rule-based chatbots and AI chatbots. They are a simple and affordable choice if you don't need anything more complex than the text equivalent of a user interface. However, companies with customer service teams that address complex customer complaints need a scalable and intelligent solution and that's where conversational AI for customer service plays an important role.
What is Conversational AI?
Conversational AI is ideally the opposite, as it is not rule-based and does not adhere to a pre-determined conversational flow or script. Conversational AI chatbots, as the name implies, use artificial intelligence technology to provide personalized, human-like interactions. Conversational AI is the new AI-powered customer service standard. The use of natural language understanding (NLU) as a core feature along with tools such as automatic speech recognizer (ASR), spoken language understanding module (SLU), a dialogue manager (DM), text-to-speech (TTS) synthesizer, and much more is the key to conversational AI solutions.
Features of Chatbot and Conversational AI
The fact that two terms Conversational AI and Chatbots are used interchangeably has created much confusion. To make it easier, let's differentiate based on their functionalities for a better understanding of chatbot vs conversational AI.
Which is Better: A Chatbot or a Conversational AI Chatbot?
There is no correct answer to this question. While conversational AI is almost always the better option for your business, it also depends on your specific goals and needs.
If you own a small business and frequently receive the same types of inquiries, you can use a rule-based chatbot to handle them. Also, if you're concerned about lead generation using chatbots, a chatbot can help you create a few flow-based questions, and you'll be able to identify qualified leads in no time!
Conversational AI chatbots, on the other hand, are the way to go if you run a large business and receive a lot of out-of-the-box questions and need a more personalised, human-like approach to represent your brand. Thanks to NLP (Natural Language Processing), AI chatbots can handle almost any situation thrown at them!
Future of Conversational AI
Conversational AI has infiltrated almost every industry, altering how humans and machines interact and perform tasks. Modern AI chatbots are highly specialised and perform commendably as long as users stay within the topic. Conversational AI has taken off in the setting of conversational commerce and AI-powered marketing. A personal touch is often lost as brands expand and grow. Customers are more conscientious and aware nowadays, so the best approach is to nurture them. Most of these can be accomplished without additional resources, thanks to AI automation for businesses. AI is a game-changing solution for businesses dealing with sensitive data. It can aid with resource management as well as customer satisfaction using AI. The possibilities for conversational AI solutions are endless, and now is the ideal time to invest and innovate.
Go Beyond Chatbots With iNextLabs Conversational AI
There is a pervasive myth that developing conversational AI solutions is expensive and time-consuming. Yet, at the same time, this might be true if you build a solution from scratch with specialised developers.
iNextLabs can provide you with all the AI chatbot solutions you need to stand out in your industry.
Incorporating conversational AI allows you to experience the capabilities and understand the growth of your business.
Schedule a free demo with iNextLabs if you need more information or are unclear if this conversational AI technology can help your business. Our experts will reach you to answer your questions.
