Is it really good to click on online help and all the answers are robots?

Editor's note: The development of artificial intelligence technology is constantly changing people's ways of life and work, and it has to some extent promoted the development and progress of society, which is beyond doubt. But artificial intelligence is not omnipotent, because machines do not possess human thinking and emotions. When you open the online help window on the website and only find that the answer is a cold robot, you may be very disappointed.

In April 2016, Mark Zuckerberg described a bright future for developers on Messenger at Facebook's F8 conference and announced that he would enter a new era of "chatting with robots like friends". Developers from around the world, all certified by major companies such as Facebook, Google, and Microsoft, claim that the era of independent mobile applications is over and celebrate the arrival of new ways - Conversational Commerce and Chatbots. Eleven months ago, Facebook announced that its official chat robot "M" had a 70% AI failure rate in beta testing. Subsequently, Facebook updated its platform and suggested that developers develop lighter applications in Messenger while disabling session input.

We have always known two things about Wordhop.io. The first thing is that AI is really difficult, it will take many years to achieve 100% communication between robots and humans like friends. After all, robots cannot resonate like humans. Secondly, Facebook consumers do not send messages to a company because they want to shop or are interested in the weather. These experiences are premised on having chat robots and also require industry data support that has expanded from the field of information transmission to the field of social networks.

What Facebook users really want is to get a quick response from the merchant when there are problems.

The main reason consumers send messages to merchants on Facebook is to obtain services. Everything else is a floating cloud. Such interactive pre-sales may start with customer inquiries, and timely responses can advance the transaction. If a customer contacts sales customer service, it is usually because they really have a problem and need to consult customer service. Some answers can be answered by robots, while more complex problems can be handed over to humans to solve. With powerful tools, human recovery speed can be comparable to that of robots.

However, many robot developers do not focus on the most demanding part, but instead seek to create new user experiences or redevelop and upgrade old concepts related to chatbots. If robot developers feel low participation, it may not be because AI has failed, but because they have led consumers towards a path they initially did not want to take. Without utilizing existing consumer behavior patterns and training robots to respond to customer needs, the role of AI is only to achieve the creative experience imagined by robot developers and guide consumers to interact through this experience.

Facebook now recommends that robot developers completely disable session input.

I personally do not believe that disabling chat input, as suggested by Facebook, is the correct solution for the technical limitations of AI and NLP. Communication robots without dialogue ability are acceptable for news robots, where the experience is driven by notifications and content consumption. However, if it is a service based business, it is necessary to provide users with a platform that can interact with you in a friendly manner. If text input is the main method in Messenger, it will limit customers' communication willingness and initiative, and force them to seek customer service in other ways that you can imagine, or simply delaying responses will make customers even more disappointed. Think about IVR, how many times do you need to press' 0 'after listening to menu options.

The business community should adopt a combination of automation and manual methods to meet the needs of Facebook users.

China's WeChat mini programs are integrated into message interaction, which meets developers' expectations for chat robots. However, this is a cultural phenomenon in the East, while Western companies should first utilize existing consumer behavior and better utilize such behavior data. If you are not a fan of the concept that "chatbots will replace human services", but rather stick to your initial commitment to customers, then introducing such technology can help you strengthen communication with customers. If you can meet the expectations of Facebook consumers now, then over time, you can also add new features and lead consumers in the direction you expect. In the end, you are likely to meet their needs.