When talking about artificial intelligence and chatbots — despite both technologies being widely used in companies — it is common for some questions to arise.
After all, do you know how to say if chatbots are part of artificial intelligence or if artificial intelligence is part of chatbots?
Well, to clarify this and other questions, we will present a series of useful information throughout this post. Want to know more about it? So, read on and check it out!
What Are Chatbots?
The first step in clarifying the differences between artificial intelligence and chatbots is understanding that the technologies are different. There is a wide range of differences between the two fields.
The fact that chatbots are artificially intelligent robots is what causes many people to get confused. The word chatbot is the combination of “chat” (conversation/dialog) with “bot” (robot). Therefore, we can contextualize technology with the branch of robotics, an area that deals specifically with robots.
Robots, in turn, are programmable machines that, in general, are capable of performing various actions with autonomy or semi-autonomy. In this case, we can say that chatbots are service robots since they are equipped with resources to interact with humans, perform calls and solve problems at a basic or complex level.
The three main characteristics that constitute a robot are:
- robots are programmable;
- robots interact with the physical world through actuators and sensors;
- most of the time, robots are autonomous or semi-autonomous.
When we say “most of the time,” it is because there are robots that are not, correct? In this context, the fact is that there are categories of bots that a human operator completely controls.
However, chatbots are machines that can “think” and make decisions autonomously. But what makes it possible for these robots to have the ability to “reason”? Well, that’s where artificial intelligence fits in.
What Is Artificial Intelligence?
Artificial intelligence, also known by the acronym AI (artificial intelligence), is a segment of computing that deals with developing systems to complete tasks that otherwise would require human intelligence.
Artificial intelligence is based on algorithms that tackle perception, learning, understanding reasoning or language/logical reasoning, and problem-solving.
Nowadays, AI is widely used in society and the corporate world. For example, its algorithms enable Google searches, Spotify music recommendations, the choice of advertising on your timeline on social networks, and interactions between chatbots and users.
While artificial intelligence controls bots, the algorithms are only part of a larger robotic system that uses actuators, sensors, and non-AI programming.
It is not a rule, but artificial intelligence usually involves some level of Machine Learning, which consists of an algorithm “trained” to “react” to a certain input in a certain way, using known inputs and outputs.
What differentiates artificial intelligence from more conventional programming is the term “intelligence.” Non-AI systems are capable of simply executing defined sequences of instructions. While AI software “mimics” a certain level of human intelligence.
Relationship Between Artificial Intelligence And Chatbots
First, it is necessary to highlight that AI encompasses several lines of study, one of which is neural networks, which, in turn, consist of computational models that seek to imitate the way the human brain thinks.
Neural networks perform Machine Learning — or machine learning — and pattern recognition, which enable chatbots to understand and approach informal human language (humanized communication).
We know this type of learning by the term Natural Language Processing, or NLP. It aims to understand human language more naturally so that it is possible to judge what people are saying and give relevant answers.
How Does Artificial Intelligence Work In Chatbots?
The purpose of NLP — through a chatbot — is to help the user reach their goal agile and practically, with sentence processing to identify their “intention” or “subject.”
To better understand how this algorithm identifies intentions, check out an example of a conversation between a chatbot and a customer at a banking institution.
- Customer: “What is my balance?
- Chatbot: “Your current balance is BRL 2 thousand”.
Did you notice that the chatbot could identify the user’s intent because of the term “balance”? Therefore, he was able to give the answer he was looking for.
Also Read: Artificial Intelligence In Marketing: Why Is It Important?