Enterprise News

Click on online help, but all the answers are robots. Is that really good?

The development of artificial intelligence technology is constantly changing people's life and working methods, which to a certain extent promotes the development and progress of society, which is beyond doubt. But artificial intelligence is not omnipotent, because machines do not have human thinking and emotions. I'm afraid you'll be disappointed when you open the online help window on the website and find that the only answer is a cold robot.

In April 2016, Mark Zuckerberg was in FacebookThe F8 conference described a bright future for developers on Messenger and announced that they would enter a new era of "chatting with robots like friends". Developers all over the world, who are certified by companies such as Facebook, Google and Microsoft, claim that the era of stand-alone mobile applications is over and celebrate the arrival of new ways - Conversational Commerce and Chatbots. Eleven months ago, Facebook announced that its official chat robot, M, had a 70% AI failure rate in beta tests, and then updated its platform, suggesting that developers develop lighter applications in M essenger and disable session input.

As far as Wordhop.io is concerned, we all know two things. The first thing is that AI is really hard. It will take many years for robots to communicate with humans 100% like friends. After all, robots can't resonate like humans. Second, Facebook consumers don't send messages to an enterprise because they want to shop or are interested in the weather. These experiences are based on the premise of chat robots, and also need the support of industry data that has expanded from the field of information transmission to the field of social networks.

What Facebook users really want is to get a quick response from the merchant when there is a problem.

The main reason consumers send messages to businesses on Facebook is to get services. Everything else is clouds. Such interactive pre-sale may start with customer questions and prompt replies can facilitate the transaction. If customers contact sales customer service, it is usually because they really have problems and need to consult customer service. Some of the answers can be answered by robots, and more complex questions can be left to people to solve. With powerful tools, humans can respond as quickly as robots.

Many robotic developers, however, do not focus on the most demanding part, but rather seek to create new user experiences or redevelop and upgrade old Chatbot concepts. If robotic developers feel that the participation rate is low, it may not be because AI failed, but because they led consumers to a path they didn't want to take in the first place. Without using existing consumer behavior patterns or training robots to respond to customers'needs, AI's role is simply to realize the creative experience imaginary by robotic developers and guide consumers to interact through the experience.

Facebook now recommends that robotic developers completely disable session input.

Personally, I don't think that banning chat input, as Facebook suggests, is the right solution to the technical limitations of AI and NLP. Communication robots without conversational capabilities are acceptable to news robots, where experience is driven by notification and content consumption. However, if you are a service-based business, you need to provide a platform for users to interact with you in a friendly way. If text input is the main way of Messenger, it will limit customers'willingness and motivation to communicate, and force them to seek other ways of customer service that you can imagine, or just delaying replies will make customers even more disappointed. Think about IVR. After listening to the menu options, you need to press "0" several times.

Businesses should adopt a combination of automation and manpower in order to meet the needs of Facebook users.

China's Wechat apps are integrated into message interaction, which meets developers'expectations for chat robots, but this is a cultural phenomenon in the East, while Western companies should first make use of existing consumer behavior and make better use of such behavior data. If you're not a fan of the concept that chat robots will replace manual services, but just stick to your initial commitment to customers, then introducing such technology can help you strengthen your communication with customers. If you can live up to the expectations of Facebook consumers, over time, you can add new features and lead consumers in the direction you expect. In the end, you are likely to meet their needs.