Many of us have used chatbots like Siri or Alexa. For some of us, they are an integral part of our lives.  From getting us the latest stock quotes to finding pizzerias with the best deep dish offers, they have become our 24x7x365 trusted assistants, who are saving us time and money.  If you have done any online chatting with a bank’s virtual agent such as Bank of America’s Erica, you know this phenomenon extends well beyond our personal lives.

According to McKinsey & Company and the US Office of Personnel Management, chatbots or virtual assistants/agents, one of the top 10 AI technologies, could save $174 Billion across Insurance, Financial Services, Sales, and Customer Service*.  No wonder the chatbot market revenue is growing at a CAGR of More than 31% from 2018 to 2024.

While it is obvious that there is some level of intelligence built into these chatbots so they can figure out what we need and provide what’s needed, there may still be a bit of mystery on what makes it possible. Some may wonder how chatbots can understand what we type in or say, how they know what questions to ask to clarify our requests, and what are the types of questions/requests in which they are effective?

If you want to stay on top of this Artificial Intelligence (AI) wave, join us in the upcoming ‘Chatbots: Uncovering an AI phenomenon’ webinar where we will demystify chatbots, demo a real-time chatbot for enterprise services, and discuss criteria to evaluate the enabling technology.

* BI Intelligence, McKinsey & Company, and the US Office of Personnel Management 2016