Language models are becoming increasingly advanced, making it difficult to distinguish them from real people. They can draw pictures, engage in full-fledged dialogue, search for information, and even provide support in difficult times. Progress has continued, and today, advanced artificial intelligence (AI) assists with shopping, solves problems for hundreds of thousands of people nationwide, and has garnered a vast array of supporters. Is this trust justified, and what can we expect from this technology in the future?
Market temperature
The success of language models, such as GPT, has enabled the creation of sophisticated chatbots, making it difficult to revert to using traditional “dumb” bots with scripted responses. Chatbots powered by GPT can better understand the context of a conversation, provide more meaningful answers, learn and analyze data, and perform tasks that previously only humans could handle.
For example, they can craft a congratulatory message for a colleague, conduct a therapeutic conversation, or execute a simple task like replacing all vertical quotation marks with curved ones in a text. However, this is just the beginning, something anyone can experience in their first interaction with a chatbot. Their potential is far greater, and it is being fully realized right now.
The driving force behind this expansion is business, which is gradually integrating AI bots into operations. These bots are already capable of almost entirely handling client interactions, rivaling human performance. Analysts predict that the global market size for AI chatbots will grow from the current $6 billion to nearly $67 billion by 2033. This surge is not coincidental, as it is supported by shifts in consumer behavior – both technologies and people have evolved.
When the bot became convenient
The rise in popularity of chatbots owes much to the tens of millions of people willing to engage with artificial intelligence. This shift has been highly successful: people are increasingly moving away from phone calls and opting for written communication instead.
Today, researchers report that nearly 70% of customers prefer to communicate with companies and partners via chat for nearly all issues, whether it’s discussing a delayed order or handling a transaction. This trend is particularly pronounced among the younger generation, especially those born in the 1990s, who are increasingly becoming key economic players. Businesses are adapting to this shift, with chatbots that can interact like real people playing a crucial role.
This adaptation benefits businesses as well: chatbots streamline client interactions, helping to reduce support costs by up to 20% and speeding up the processing of incoming requests. For instance, chatbots are now implemented in 75% of online marketplaces, and the ongoing integration of next-generation bots is expected to further enhance service quality and reduce the need for large technical support teams.
This applies to the retail sector in its entirety as well as to the financial sector, government agencies and all other areas that require prompt, accurate and competent communication. Banks constitute a considerable share in this regard, with about 70% of credit and financial institutions that represent top 30 using bots that involve various amounts of automation.
The figures that illustrate implementation of AI technology, including AI chatbots, paint a rather optimistic scenario. According to Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko, the implementation and use of AI will bring RUR 11.2 tln to the Russia’s economy by 2030, with new projects only boosting the trend.
Man needs man
An AI-powered bot is not the end result of the development, but rather a stage that leads to creating fully operational assistants that can keep a conversation and help resolve an issue. Additionally, they will have all information on the company, store the chat history and use it, and perform operations related to other business systems, such as making payments, recording meetings, and compiling reports.
Currently, companies use chatbots for communicating with external players, while immediate prospects engage AI as a fully operational assistant for business owners that would combine administrative and analytical functions. Additionally, a digital assistant can present a unique user experience through interactive means.
Basically, an AI assistant will function not as text but as a fully-featured, AI-controlled live interactive image. It can imitate a specific person, representing its knowledge and way of thinking. Essentially, this innovation implies that people are willing to communicate with each other, which is our innate natural trait. Ultra-realistic digital video assistants can certainly help achieve the goal of creating truly personalized customer experience. A user can choose this technology for asking a digital company representative a question and receive an instant answer rather than search the web or get put on hold.
The opportunities for using digital video assistants are limitless, ranging from customer service and medical care to staff training and interviews. This is fair: other market players’ attempts at implementing a similar concept show an obviously striking digital nature of the assistants which causes the uncanny valley effect, which refers to the way we negatively react to digital humanoid models that exhibit inaccuracies, such as minor movements, facial expressions, or unrealistic textures. This is the reason chatbots are often deliberately made cartoonish or revived through the use of previously existing company mascots.
Yet, the more realistic the assistant, the more effective it is – and therefore, the efforts to create this specific solution will continue. Further technological progress, as well as the introduction of digital assistants into business models, will change human-AI interaction scenarios for good. Essentially, everyone will have their own personal assistant that will have unique facial expressions and knowledge, and will be extensively involved in the person’s life or business. This is the vision that companies are striving for across the globe today – and the future that awaits us.
By Irina Lartseva, General Director, Reril AI