A Chatbot or Virtual Assistant is a software that mimics a human and carries out conversations with a user in natural language. Chatbots are the most advanced and sophisticated tools which come off as something rather simple. They are based on a Question Answer System; where a user- a human- asks a question and the bot answers it. They require rigorous testing, tuning and maintenance to make sure the bot is up to date and functioning smoothly. A Chatbot is used to improve the interaction among companies and customers by refining customer service. In this blog, we will talk about some of the Amazing Facts about Chatbots. By the way, every fact about chatbots is amazing.

Amazing Facts about Chatbots

• Chatbots are not new technology. The first-ever chatbot, ELIZA, was invented in the 1960s. Since then chatbots have undergone a major transformation to become as sophisticated as they are now. Not All Chatbots are the same.

• Chatbots are of 2 types.

1. Virtual Assistants like Alexa, Siri, Google Assistant etc.

2. Ingrained within Apps and Websites and used to facilitate Customer Service. For example, Facebook bots, Slack Bot, Swiggy Chatbot, Zomato Chatbot etc. These allow businesses to be online 24/7 thereby increasing their reach and customer satisfaction. These type of bots can only interact with users following their pre-programmed structure.

• Virtual Assistants are more powerful and can interact with users almost like a human. They can make bookings, make phone calls, send texts, take pictures, answer queries etc.

A conversation with Alexa or Siri would be as follows:

" Hey Siri/Alexa, Tell me about Kolkata School of Digital Marketing

Kolkata School of Digital Marketing is the academic division of We Love Digital Marketing. It is an advanced Digital Marketing Training Institute in Kolkata aimed at developing proficient Digital Marketers for this digitally-driven era. Using a comprehensive and integrated approach of teaching, they cover the 360 degrees of Digital Marketing, from SEOs, SEMs to Mobile Marketing. The courses are designed to specifically suit the necessities of the industry and the professional requirements of the students."

• Bots are emerging as great marketing tools. They provide valuable suggestions and recommendations to a customer. They are also a simple and straightforward way to give feedback and report issues.

• Chatbots can provide virtual therapy; because let's face it- we all want a friend who listens to us without judging.

• Chatbots can help us discover new things.

• More people are willing to talk to chatbots than customer service officials. And we don’t blame them. Because it is way easier to talk to a bot than a human.

• Studies claim that people will talk to Bots more than to their spouse and family in the near future.

A few technically Facts are :

• Chatbots can be programmed in any programming language.
• There are many ready-to-use bots available in the market which take just over an hour to set up and customize.
• Using Deep Learning, it would be possible to give distinct personalities to Chatbots in the near future.
• Studies claim that chatbots will be able to pass the Turing Test and be completely indistinguishable from humans by 2029. Turing Test, developed by Alan Turing, tests whether a Machine is able to exhibit intelligent behaviour and be indistinguishable from a human.

Chatbots are evolving rapidly and becoming better with each passing day. Only time will tell if we will have human-like-robotic assistants, or they will take over us.