Technological Advances: Are Chatbots Able to Replace Humans?

Featured article by Lexie Martin, Independent Tech Author

Most companies have optimized their support services by implementing chatbots. They were created to minimize the commitment of human resources, often robbing workers of their jobs. The companies are saving money with the help of these new technologies, but are they able to replace a real person?

To understand this, we should probe deeper to find out how chatbots are operating, and what lies inside. There are two types of chatbots: scripted and intelligent. The first type is far from being human-like, and it only suits purposes that can be programmed. Some surveys could be done with the help of this chatbots. Some order services also could be optimized this way. Intelligent chatbots are created to create realistic communication. A good chatbot can’t be distinguished from a real person easily.

Some bots can be created without coding. It means that virtually anyone can program it to meet their own needs. In the heart of an intelligent chatbot lies NLP (Natural Language Processing) and NLG (Natural Language Generation). NLP works to process the text sent to the bot into structured data. In other words – it converts your text into a certain command. On the other hand, NLG has an opposite function. It turns structured data into text, generating a response.

Modern chatbots can analyze all of the information given throughout the communication, taking into consideration more than just one message. They are learning from humans to imitate natural speech, that’s how they become similar to human-operated helpdesks. The idea of bots learning from humans is a bit doubtful, due to the last experiment by Microsoft. The test of a new chatbot lasted for 1 day. During this short period, the bot started spouting off unpopular opinions, which could be considered offensive to some. Since offending people isn’t good for business, the chatbot was quickly removed.That wasn’t the aim of the company, obviously, but they should foresee the possibility of such resonance.

There is a special test for human-like technologies called a Turing test, which can tell you how close is this technology comes to human behavior. It was created more than 70 years ago, and even such well-known bots, such as Alice, NBC, and UNICEF, weren’t able to pass it.

Different types of chatbots are used in delivery services, online shops, taxi services, etc. Some Customer Support services use bots these days, but more often than not, they aren’t able to solve your problems. For example, some Top Casinos have already implemented chatbots that send you back quotes from the general terms, which partially match your query.

Our attitude towards chatbots isn’t a negative one, but we can tell that they are not ready to replace a real human communication. Only some spheres can use these technologies without being harmful to the users. We hope one-day chatbots will be helpful, but for now, they are not.

About the Author

Lexie Martin is a Computer Geek, Internet Entrepreneur, Blogger, Day Dreamer, Fitness Freak, Music Lover and Digital Marketing Specialist. She also helps companies to grow their online businesses.