Understanding Conversational AI & Generative AI
Conversational AI (CAI) and Generative AI (GAI) are closely related but distinct from each other. While both involve artificial intelligence, they serve different purposes and employ different techniques.
In recent months, there has been a surge in GAI, which is undeniably fascinating and captivating. However, it has also sparked concerns about the potential replacement of human jobs and rendered many tasks performed by humans obsolete.
The possibility of future job elimination, potentially reaching thousands or even millions, does exist. To gain valuable insights into Generative AI and its implications, I highly recommend reading an excellent article by Ellen Glover, which can be found at the following link: (a Must Read!)
CAI focuses on developing systems capable of engaging in natural language conversations with humans. These systems are designed to comprehend user inputs, interpret their intentions, and generate suitable responses. CAI often incorporates components such as natural language processing (NLP), natural language understanding (NLU), dialogue management, and knowledge retrieval.
The objective of conversational AI is to facilitate interactive and contextually relevant communication between humans and machines.
On the other hand, generative AI pertains to a category of AI models designed to create new content, including images, text, music, or videos. Generative models like Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) or autoregressive language models (e.g., GPT) learn from existing data and generate new instances that exhibit patterns and characteristics similar to those in the training data.
GAI focuses on producing novel and imaginative content rather than engaging in interactive conversations.
While conversational AI systems may employ generative AI techniques to generate responses, they also integrate other AI components to understand user intent, manage dialogue flow, and provide contextually appropriate answers.
Conversational AI has a broader scope as it encompasses the entire process of enabling natural language conversations, while generative AI specifically concentrates on generating new content.
CAI has revolutionized the Contact Center by eliminating outdated IVR menus and adopting a more user-centric approach with the simple question, "How can I help you?" Callers can often find containment and assistance through self-service across multiple channels.
Intelligent Virtual Agents can route more complex calls to their human counterparts, resulting in a symbiotic co-existence. In essence, it blends human expertise with AI capabilities.
Waterfield Tech is at the forefront of Conversational AI and has assisted many leading brands in developing and implementing successful CAI strategies, yielding outstanding results and unparalleled levels of customer satisfaction. These positive customer experiences are evident in post-call interviews and Net Promoter Scores.
Does your enterprise need assistance with its CAI strategy? Call me to discuss.
You know you could do better!
Mark