5 things copywriters need to know about AI & conversation design

This just a snack-sized overview. You can check out the full article on the Avion website: https://www.avioncommunications.com.au/5-things-copywriters-need-to-know-about-ai-conversation-design/

Anyone I’ve met knows I’m a geek for emerging technology. In particular, I’m very passionate about artificial intelligence (AI), and how natural language processing (NLP) will impact content strategists and copywriters.

From the 2018 Digital AI Summit, here are my top 5 takeaways that every copywriter interested in conversation design should know.

1. BOTS: THE BASICS

Agnes Panosian, AI and Data Lead at Microsoft, places bots in these 4 categories:

1. Bots that work like IVR phone systems (i.e. to help you find a membership number)
2. Transactional bots that help you complete a task (i.e. make a booking)
3. Bots for advisory services (i.e. to ask what’s the best insurance policy for you)
4. Conversational bots (i.e. like Siri from Apple, Xiaoice from Microsoft, or the scarily-realistic yet fictional Samantha from the 2013 movie ‘Her’ starring Joaquin Phoenix and Scarlett Johansson).

If your organisation or client would like to develop a bot, consider the problem you’re looking to solve; it should inform what type of bot is best before you start your project.

2. “PEOPLE DON’T GIVE VALUES, THEY GIVE CONSTRAINTS”

Dr Phil Cohen, Professor at the Laboratory for Dialogue Research at Monash University, explained that we’re more likely to say, “any time after 2pm” as opposed to just “2pm”. Being able to decipher this input and provide suggestions is what we call “plan recognition”. Although AI still has a long way to go in this regard, it demonstrates why copywriters should work closely with developers.

3. “CONTEXTUAL AWARENESS IS REALLY HARD TO UNPACK”

As stated above, AI has its limitations when it comes to functioning beyond specific tasks. What can we do about this? The key is creating a single NLP model that can handle multiple tasks, says Rob Wickham, Regional VP, Platform & Emerging Technologies at Salesforce Asia Pacific. That will get us one step closer to “general purpose AI capability”.

4. 20% OF GMAIL USERS ARE USING QUICK RESPONSE BUTTONS

According to Dr Nathan Faggian, Cloud Consultant at Google, 1 in 5 Gmail users are using its auto-generated quick response buttons to send emails. It proves that AI can, in many cases, predict what we’re likely to say next. It’s good for copywriters to identify patterns if they want to create a positive user experience.

5. (SOME) COPYWRITERS WILL BE REPLACED BY ROBOTS

If you’re a copywriter that writes product descriptions for a living, watch out. AI now has the ability to scan thousands of images at scale and automatically detect/describe product features. But this new capability lacks creativity. Copywriters that can craft a compelling story will thrive.

MORE RESOURCES ON CONVERSATION DESIGN AND AI

Interested in finding out more about emerging technology, conversation design and AI? Explore our blogs below:

• Humanoid robots and natural language programming
• Talking to bots – what is conversation design?
• The key ethical dilemmas that surround artificial intelligence
• What does voice search mean for your web copy?
• What is conversational copy?