Chatbot and artificial intelligence

Chatbots have become our new reality. Websites, social media, mobile applications – conversational systems are more and more boldly entering new channels of communication with customers. Recently, voice chatbots are even employed on hotlines and as sex chatbots. The most modern ones are often said to be based on artificial intelligence. What is an AI chatbot really? We dispel doubts about the technical aspects of the bot’s functioning.

Artificial intelligence in a chatbot: why is it worth it?

Artificial intelligence is a very broad concept in which we can talk about various solutions. In chatbots, at least in the current version, machine learning is mainly used. Machine learning allows bots to absorb a lot of information. The more we “teach” the bot (feeding it with data), the greater the probability that it will cope properly when it comes across a given situation in a real conversation with the user.

Machine learning itself is therefore often used in creating a knowledge base, but also in other processes, such as:

• chatbot / voicebot testing

• speech recognition for voicebots

• catching trends (forecasting, thematic links between)

The use of machine learning in one of the areas does not mean the need to apply it also in other areas. For example – you can train a bot using machine learning, but it does not necessarily have to use e.g. catching trends using the same technology.

Artificial intelligence in chatbot and additional risk?

AI chatbots are very often promoted as modern solutions that must be implemented today. Is it really so? Yes and no. Artificial intelligence does equip bots with new possibilities, but it also generates some risk. When deciding how the bot should operate, it is worth being aware of the potential threats. An AI-based bot can, on the one hand, perfectly harmonize with the user, and on the other hand, take over some negative behavior. An example of such an experiment, which turned out to be run out of control, was one of the Microsoft solutions.

Since the bot is supposed to “learn” on a regular basis thanks to machine learning, for example on the basis of the statements of people who interact with it, will the results be fully satisfactory? It once seemed, but today we know that not necessarily 19-year-old Tay is a Microsoft bot that has been assigned a specific personality. The bot was available on Twitter and anyone could talk to it. At least for a while … Artificial intelligence, which was supposed to make him an extremely attractive interlocutor, directed the bot in a completely different direction. After talking to social media users, Tay turned racist.

This situation sounds obviously very dangerous, because from a business perspective, a bot that would behave in this way threatens the brand image and may harm it. Therefore, the question arises: can such cases be prevented? Of course. The answer is bots, which, in addition to artificial intelligence, are also based on rules. Rules are nothing more than certain rules that are overriding the bot’s operation. In this way, they impose certain restrictions on the self-learning bot. For example, such a limitation may be, for example, profanity or precisely racist content. The rules keep the bot “in check”, so even the most modern AI bots intended for public use should not be deprived of them.