Chatbots: Unraveling the Distinction between Automation and AI 

When we speak of Artificial Intelligence (AI) many would lump chatbots into that category. For the layman, not much may be different. It is a chat designed to respond to queries of visitors. It appears as an automated response to frequently asked questions (FAQ) or questions that may relate to the products and services of an organization. That is what a basic chatbot is. Most chatbots are basic and may not even have AI integrated into them.

If we were to look closely into this, we would find out that when talking of chatbots, it goes beyond what we see, and that there are in fact a lot of things happening. Chatbot per se, does not necessarily include AI. Chatbot is more of an automation feature. Common chatbots that we might see on the internet such as the ones that Chatango has are not AI. They are simply bots that respond to a command prompt, or a set of instructions and cadences.

The Difference Between AI and Automation

Let us now differentiate between Automation and AI. What is automation? It is the technique of making a process or system of procedures operate automatically. Automotive processes may not necessarily fall into what we call AI.

Now, what is AI? As per IBM "At its simplest form, artificial intelligence is a field, which combines computer science and robust datasets to enable problem-solving. It also encompasses sub-fields of machine learning and deep learning, which are frequently mentioned in conjunction with artificial intelligence." In short basically, AI is just not automation, it really does try to replicate or follow the processes of the human mind when it comes to solution-making, specifically cognition, memory, learning, and decision-making. Limitations might be set up but those are the abilities that an AI usually can manifest.

A chatbot may only have a cadence and triggers. A chatbot may initiate by asking a question, and the response may fall into one of the categories that the chatbot may already have a cadence set of responses. AI on the other hand will understand the inquiry and does not depend on a cadence but will rightfully interact and provide what is being asked for, that it can't comply with and would direct the person chatting to a live agent or so. These things, however, need not be separate.

Chatbots with AI

A chatbot may incorporate AI. Layers of different AI can be added to a chatbot that would change how they interact and become way easier to interact with. Usually, there are 3 layers of AI that are added to a good chatbot. We have Natural Language Processing (NPL), Machine Learning, and Sentiment Analysis. The combination of these 3 would allow the chat AI to understand human speech and its emotional tone, and it can learn on its own with machine learning.

To just give a short explanation, NPL is the AI system that allows the AI to understand human language; Machine Learning gives the chat the ability to learn on its own and is not reliant on command prompts and would be able to find solutions to the questions being asked; and finally, sentiment analysis is an AI system that can understand the emotional tone of what is being chatted or asked. If you'd like to read more on this, here is a longer article that goes a bit deeper into these systems by Capacity.

So that was a short rundown on the subtle differences between Chatbots and AI. We hope this has armed you to detect if a Chatbot is just automation or has AI. Knowing that you are not just facing a series of cadences goes a long way in any inquiry that you may have.