Few topics are as hot and fast-paced as the evolution of AI technologies and how they reconfigure our lives. Entire industries are being disrupted by increasing numbers of AI automation that completely change the way work gets done. However, that is not to say that machines are replacing human work; rather, repetitive work that does not require human intellect or intervention can be done more efficiently by a machine, freeing up humans to work on high-leverage activities.
When it comes to conversational AI, just like the overall AI industries, advancements are exponential and could radically change how we interact. This entry will discuss some trends to watch out for in 2024.
Unlike most people believe, conversational AI technologies have decades-old roots. They are some of the most powerful technologies changing industry standards by empowering customers to better interact with the products and services they consume.
Conversational AI technologies, particularly advanced Intelligent Virtual Agents (IVAs), are the evolution of customer service automation. It all started in the 1960s when researchers created programs like ELIZA and Parry that simulated human conversations. With time, IVAs have evolved, integrating other technologies like AI and natural language processing (NLP) to become a conversational AI solution.
Today, conversational AI solutions are used in almost every industry, including customer service, banking, healthcare, and retail. As AI technology evolves, conversational AI is becoming an even more essential tool for streamlining efficiency, offering 24/7 availability and the possibility of handling multiple interactions across all industries.
Today, artificial intelligence technologies are the most well-funded and transformational technologies that can alter our lives. Combining machine learning, natural language processing, and generative AI technologies makes conversational AI possible, meaning it is currently one of the fastest-moving fields.
Given the clear benefits of availability, automation, and efficiency, the conversational AI market is expected to be worth $49.9 billion by 2030. By empowering users to do more independently and helping companies make sense of large data sets automatically, conversations with customers become an insight-rich opportunity that corporations in every vertical want to capitalize on.
Conversational AI moves faster than almost any other industry, given its reliance on AI technologies and its clear benefits for organizations. Below, we will discuss some top trends to watch out for that can further increase AI's technological importance.
Today, conversational AI technologies are capable of recognizing intent and providing solutions. However, advanced emotional intelligence allows IVAs to recognize emotions in real-time, becoming an entire emotion-AI market projected to be worth $13.8 billion by 2032. While this progress can definitely become a tipping point for implementation in multiple industries requiring a more nuanced understanding of user intent, it also represents a challenge for researchers and companies alike.
For example, the future of mental healthcare is changing as AI aids researchers and, in some cases, even replaces them. As a result, researchers have found that the ethical question of machines replacing mental health professionals is problematic while also acknowledging the potential to allow better care for more people.
Multimodal artificial intelligence refers to AI that is capable of understanding multiple types of inputs such as text, video, images, etc. Unlike standard AI models that learn from a single kind of data input, multimodal features allow artificial intelligence to be more effective by understanding multiple communication channels to have better context.
At the same time, this ability to be multimodal opens up a world of possibilities by allowing conversational AI solutions to help people with disabilities by better matching their needs. In other words, multimodal interactions change the paradigm of conversational AI from being a single-mode solution to an ecosystem solution. Users can switch between interaction modes without losing context or problem-solving resolution potential.
The way we consume information has changed with the internet. Companies like Google, Bing, and Perplexity are moving from traditional SEO practices to identify keywords to using large language models to understand queries in natural language. In other words, searching for keywords is shifting to what a natural conversation would be like with a human who does the actual research for you in seconds.
This shift means that the entire search infrastructure built on top of the internet will become something we don’t yet understand. While traditional search is not expected to disappear, at least not soon, conversational AI is rewriting the internet as a tool to find more organic information.
Artificial intelligence is rapidly changing the entire marketing industry, particularly content generation. Conversational AI in this field provides an additional opportunity for brands and creators to diversify their content offerings and produce content differently. Using your voice with conversational AI tools to create images, videos, texts, and audio is now possible, bypassing the need to type prompts.
Another aspect of conversational AI that has gained much traction in 2024 and beyond is the need to address ethical and transparency concerns. While conversational AI benefits are evident, they can also become an additional tool that helps organizations meet compliance and regulatory requirements, safeguarding their information.
This is particularly important given that machine learning requires the correct information type. If your data has an inherent bias, the information and output you receive might have undesirable results. At the same time, it’s essential to consider using conversational AI as a regulatory partner that helps organizations, prioritizes user consent, has audits in place, and includes human oversight.
Conversational AI is empowering customers to interact with their favorite brands without hold times. Beyond that, however, the implementation of conversational AI for businesses is extensive, becoming a customer-facing tool to streamline operations and customer experience and an internal library of information to help with onboarding, training, and more.
In other words, implementing conversational AI can help organizations improve customer service, data collection, financial management, transparency, and profitability. By having a conversational machine and partner that understands what you say and provides accurate information to your questions organizations can do more, faster, with less operational and financial overhead.
A challenge that has been present since the beginning of conversational AI is its capacity to understand context. Conversational AI could explain what it knows and how at a base level. More recently, however, AI shifted into a different territory where it perceives information similarly to humans, meaning it can explain itself more effectively, adapt to more situations and environments, and, of course, perceive environments and situations more accurately to improve its functions.
While this is still a research frontier in constant evolution and has faced shortcomings (like self-driving cars not meeting expectations), the potential for context-aware AI means that in the near future, we will not be able to tell if we’re talking to a human or a machine. Today, research is happening around teaching AI “common sense,” hoping to push AI to the next evolutionary stage where it becomes more human-like. One thing is certain: context awareness AI is a priority for leading scientists in the field, and we can expect only better and more efficient conversational AI solutions soon.
Technologies generally work in a combinatorial logic. That means that when we combine the possibilities of artificial intelligence with virtual reality and augmented reality, there are massive opportunities for companies, such as those in the gaming industry, to push their boundaries and develop new products and services.
Combinatorial tech advances like high-fidelity graphics, advanced haptics, eye tracking, motion tracking, and spatial audio elevate the potential of VR and AR to another level in combination with conversational AI. For example, creating virtual relationships through reality worlds between consumers and brands is now possible for brands, disrupting the limits between serving customers and exploring new mediums. While there are few experiments around these matters today, it’s likely to imagine a near future where using your voice to interact with organizations using augmented reality or virtual reality devices becomes a commercial standard.
The idea of robots is one of the classic representations of science fiction that has had the most impact on our current routines and habits. We use robots daily. From small and seemingly insignificant robots like our camera systems to autonomous vehicles and humanoids, robots are present in our everyday lives more than we think. Conversational AI plays a significant role because regardless of robotics being relatively common, one thing remains to be done: making it more human-like.
Companies like Boston Dynamics, Tesla, and OpenAI have shown products with tremendous applications and improvements. Today, the new frontier is to create robots that integrate conversational AI to create embodied intelligence capable of integrating cognitive processes with physical actions, potentially including conversation. That means that humanoid robots that behave and act closer to humans than we expect are on the horizon, and using conversations as the medium through which we interact with them is part of the equation.
Another trend that is part of conversational AI's natural evolution is how it is now being integrated with multiple data sources to improve its responses. For example, imagine that your IVR can include information from your data sources (CRM, ERP) together with the intent captured during the call, as well as the follow-up interactions with a human agent. Integrating these data sources to understand better your customers' overall journey allows corporations to be more efficient and provide better customer experience.
Since conversational AI uses machine learning capabilities to increase its understanding and functionality, access to different data sources allows it to have more extensive contextual information. The more context it has, the more likely it is to solve and even predict problems for each customer promptly and accurately.
The impact of conversational AI across industries is undeniable today and inescapable tomorrow. To be ready to incorporate conversational AI into your business with a partner like Mosaicx that gives you the tools you need, white-glove service, and the long-term strategy your business requires.
Mosaicx is an AI-powered customer service platform that lets you create intelligent virtual agents that efficiently and accurately solve customer inquiries by automatically moving them to the “next best action” to resolve their query. We continue to innovate Mosaicx to stay on the cutting edge of modern AI, ML, and predictive intent technologies. As such, our customers receive the latest IVA capabilities. Our solution is flexible, easy to use, cost-effective and secure.
Talk to one of our experts and learn more about how you can integrate conversational AI into your business today.