AI Conversational Talkbot: The Future of Customer Service

The Rise of Artificial Intelligence in Asia

American computer scientist John McCarthy coined artificial intelligence (AI) in 1956. AI refers to machines’ cognitive abilities that enable autonomous performance, thinking, and learning like humans. Today, AI Conversational Talkbot technology represents the latest evolution in this field. These advanced systems have moved beyond simple robotic vacuums and autonomous cars to transform customer service across Asia and the world.

AI applications increasingly integrate into various aspects of our lives. Their ability to drive digital transformation creates disruptive implications for economy, environment, and daily lifestyles. The main attraction of AI lies in its potential to drastically increase productive and cost efficiencies.

Industry experts project that AI technologies will boost corporate profitability by an average of 38% by 2035 across 16 industries in 12 economies^[1]. Companies eliminate repetitive, low-level tasks traditionally performed by humans. This creates AI’s most noticeable disruption in the labor market as organizations optimize internal operational processes.

Global AI Investment Trends

Global investment in AI grows rapidly, with estimated investments ranging from $26 to $39 billion. The United States and China serve as the two major global hubs of AI development. Funding for artificial intelligence companies in the United States increased exponentially from around 300 million dollars in 2011 to approximately 16.5 billion in 2019^[2].

PricewaterhouseCoopers predicts that $7 trillion of China’s $38 trillion GDP by 2030 will be attributed to AI. This growth comes through new business creation in autonomous driving and precision medicine, plus existing business upgrades through improved efficiencies and reduced costs^[3].

AI Impact in ASEAN Region

Tech giants Alibaba, Amazon, Google, Baidu, and Facebook make the bulk of AI investments. They race towards AI as a long-term strategy for business sustainability and competitiveness. However, the ASEAN region still finds AI as a concept poorly understood and intimidating.

Despite the region’s relatively slow advances, AI’s impact remains undeniable. MGI research estimates that currently demonstrated technologies can automate roughly half of work activities in ASEAN’s four biggest economies. Indonesia leads at 52 percent, followed by Thailand at 55 percent, Malaysia at 51 percent, and the Philippines at 48 percent. These tasks currently generate more than $900 billion in wages^[4].

Singapore, as the region’s technology capital, has made the greatest AI advances. It serves as a natural first choice for AI tech startups establishing their Asian presence. WIZ.AI established its first overseas headquarters in Singapore in 2019. The company aims to develop pioneering AI Conversational Talkbot technologies and expand throughout ASEAN.

Conventional Chatbots vs AI Conversational Talkbots

The Rise of Chatbots in Customer Service

Chatbots are computer programs built on artificial intelligence and data analytics concepts. Companies commonly install them on websites or social media platforms. Chatbot applications enable companies to automatically respond to customer messages round the clock through virtual assistants.

These systems recognize entered keywords and provide instantaneous, standardized text replies and guidance. Global Market Insights projects significant growth, with the chatbot market reaching $1.34 billion by 2024. The customer service sector will account for 42.52% of that market^[5].

The rise of chatbots links tightly to new technological advancements and evolving customer expectations. With social media and mobile messaging app prevalence, average consumers expect companies to resolve issues and respond to requests with speed.

Customer Service Expectations

A 2017 Microsoft customer survey revealed that 54% of respondents expressed higher expectations for customer service compared to the previous year. This percentage increased to 66% for younger respondents in the 18-34 age group^[6]. Traditional communication forms like emails or text messages are no longer acceptable.

In the same survey, 68% of respondents have a more positive view of brands that take initiative in providing proactive customer service notifications. Companies also use chatbots for marketing and sales, which further spurs demand and market growth.

WIZ.AI’s Revolutionary Approach

The 2017 Global State of Customer Service Report by Microsoft shows that email and telephone remain primary communication channels for many customers. Live chat, self-service, social media, and chatbots rank relatively lower in raw volume^[7]. Maintaining a 24/7 hotline for urgent customer queries proves key to keeping customers happy and loyal.

Despite increasing self-service options, customers still prefer live-agent support. Thirty percent of global respondents feel frustrated when they cannot access live agents. Another 30% believe that speaking with knowledgeable and friendly agents significantly impacts their customer service experience.

WIZ.AI works from the belief that voice conversations remain the most natural human interaction method. Artificial intelligence drives the next wave of hyper-personalized customer engagement. The company combines the best of both worlds by integrating intuitive AI conversation capabilities into familiar phone calls.

WIZ.AI pioneers a new market category with its AI Conversational Talkbot as a cutting-edge, turnkey customer service solution. These systems understand human speech in various accents, express empathy, and engage in unlimited multi-round conversations. WIZ’s AI Conversational Talkbot provides more interactive, human-like, and fulfilling customer service experiences that surpass text-based chatbots.

Technical Components of AI Conversational Talkbots

Natural Language Processing & Understanding

Natural Language Processing (NLP) represents a subfield of linguistics, computer science, and artificial intelligence. It employs computers to comprehend and handle speech and text in natural language. The AI Conversational Talkbot uses NLP to recognize and process speech patterns and nuances through speaker responses.

Building an NLP model involves eight key stages: sentence segmentation, word tokenization, parts of speech prediction, text lemmatization, stop word identification, dependency parsing, entity analysis, and pronoun parsing. Each stage helps the machine learning model better understand Asian languages and local contexts.

Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR)

ASR differentiates chatbots from AI Conversational Talkbot systems. The latter faces the added challenge of understanding different accents and local lingo to recognize customer intentions. ASR training involves collecting speech samples from various language backgrounds. Through machine learning over time, the talkbot becomes more adept at deciphering local accents and lingo.

Text-to-Speech (TTS)

Text-to-Speech serves as the channel whereby the talkbot responds and converses with customers in real-time. WIZ.AI’s proprietary TTS generation system has been designed to be life-like. This encourages customers to share more and allows companies to gain deeper insights into customer intentions and needs.

Customizable voices enhance the customer call experience with quality TTS that matches brand persona. Using a single distinguishing voice sets companies apart from competitors and ensures brand consistency across different customer touchpoints.

The Future of Customer Service

AI serves as a disruptive technology that transforms customer service. It forces companies to reconsider their customer touchpoints and service strategies to retain customer loyalty, business sustainability, and long-term competitiveness. Conversational AI technologies will likely lead this evolution.

As the AI Conversational Talkbot product becomes better understood and commercialized, more Asian companies will adopt this technology. This adoption will permanently change the landscape of ASEAN customer service and economies. The future belongs to businesses that embrace these advanced communication solutions.

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