The year 2019 holds so much promise for chatbots and AI as both scientists and marketers pave the way for more technological and strategic advancements.
AI for Business
Just this December, a survey by Forrester found that 46% of companies are investing in and adopting AI systems due to sales and marketing, while 40% are leaning towards AI for customer support. Now, Forrester predicts that AI innovations in sales will deliver new capabilities and allow businesses to enhance traditional sales and customer engagement.
Human-like AI
Meanwhile, according to Marketing Week, a global conference in November announced that machine translation is already “very close to the performance of human translators.” And in the same month, MIT revealed that its scientists had come up with technology that can learn language like a baby instead of how a machine would. The technology would assimilate visual, situational, and linguistic signals to understand and match human communication more correctly. Taking these into account, Marketing Week predicts that in a year’s time, there will be more chatbots and voice assistants that will be able to grasp better and respond suitably to how people transact and consume information; enabling brands to fully transform customer experience and make the path to conversion much smoother.
AI for Measured Personalization
When interviewed by GeekWire about what the hottest technology of 2019 will be, Corey Schmid of Seven Peaks Ventures answers that AI will be playing a major role on getting right the measured personalization that consumers want. Schmid states, “Consumers want to own and control their data more and more – whether that’s in healthcare, social, marketing, etc. Yet, we still want a very “me-centric” experience. How do you balance that? When is too much data about me, too much? Do we really want a speaker listening to our every conversation? AI is getting more and more sophisticated and starting to find real applications — how that will play out and how do we have a personalized experience with tech that is balanced, secure, and trustworthy.”
Globalized AI
Lastly, IT World Canada predicts three things for chatbots and AI in 2019. First, more enterprises will be able to successfully apply AI in their business practices. Deloitte Global projects that 70% of companies will have access to cloud-based enterprise software and services. Second, AI will inevitably become smarter as more and more chatbots and virtual assistants engage with humans. Soon, artificial intelligence will be unrecognizable from human intelligence. And finally, AI will be regulated by globally recognized ethical policies. The Canadian federal government has already created guiding principles for the responsible use of AI.
To summarize, from this day forward, AI will become better at providing what people and institutions alike want; and the world will embrace it with arms wide open.