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

Editor's note: The development of artificial intelligence technol♦ogy is constantly changing people's ways of life and work, and ✘it has to some extent promoted the development and progress of socie<ty, which is beyond doubt. But artificial intelligence is not omnipotent, becau>se machines do not possess human thinking and em otions. When you open the online help window on the web‍site and only find that the a nswer is a cold robot,  you may be very disapσpointed.

In April 2016, Mark Zuckerberg d™escribed a bright future for developers on Messenge♠r at Facebook's F8 conference and announced that he wou©ld enter a new era of "chatting with☆ robots like friends". Developers from around the woβrld, all certified by major companies such as ♦Facebook, Google, and Microsoft, claim that the© era of independent mobile applications is over and c§elebrate the arrival of new ways≥ - Conversational Commerce and Chatbo↓ts. Eleven months ago, Facebook announced that its official chat r₹obot "M" had a 70% AI failure rate in beta φtesting. Subsequently, Facebook  updated its platform and suggested that developers develo∞p lighter applications in Messenger while disabling session inφput.

We have always known two things about Wordhop.iΩo. The first thing is that AI is really difficult, it will take many years to ←achieve 100% communication bet ween robots and humans ™like friends. After all, robots cannot resonate like humans. Second≥ly, Facebook consumers do× not send messages to a company because >they want to shop or are interes™ted in the weather. These exper∏iences are premised on hσaving chat robots and also require industry data support that γhas expanded from the field o&f 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 i s a floating cloud. Such interactive pre-sales may start with ₩customer inquiries, and timely responses can advance the transaction. If a cust§omer contacts sales customer service, it is usual≠ly because they really have a problem and n☆eed to consult customer servi₩ce. Some answers can be answered by robots, while ™more complex problems can be handed over to humans to solve.☆ With powerful tools, hπuman recovery speed can be comparable to that of robots.

However, many robot deve±lopers do not focus on the most demanding part, but instead seek to create ne↑w user experiences o←r redevelop and upgrade old concepts related to chatbots. If r↕obot developers feel low participation, it may not be because AI has failed, bλut because they have led consumers towards a ≥path they initially did not want to takδe. Without utilizing existing consumer πbehavior patterns and training robots to respond to customer needs, the γrole of AI is only to achieve the creative experience imagined by robot deve"lopers and guide consume↓rs to interact through this experience.

Facebook now recommends that rob§ot developers completely disable session input.

I personally do not believe that disab ling chat input, as s€uggested by Facebook, is the correct solution for the technical limitation↕s of AI and NLP. Communication robots without dialogue ability are acceptγable for news robots, where the experi>ence is driven by notifications and content consumption. However,∏ if it is a service based business, it is necessary to providπe users with a platform that can int×eract with you in a friendly manner. If text inputα is the main method in Messenger, it will limit customers' communication will₩ingness and initiative, and force them to seek customer service in ot↓her ways that you can imagine, $or simply delaying responses will make customers even more disappoi•nted. Think about IVR, how δmany times do you need to press' 0 'after listening to menu options.

The business community should adopt a combinaβtion of automation and manual methods to meet the needs of Facebo≠ok users.

China's WeChat mini programs are inte≠grated into message interaction, which meets developers' ex↑pectations for chat robots. However, this is a cultural phenomenon in thγe East, while Western companies should first utilize exist∏ing consumer behavior and better utilize such ‍behavior data. If you a‍re not a fan of the co™ncept that "chatbots will replace human services", but rather stic↑k to your initial commitment< to customers, then introducing suγch technology can help you strengthen communication with customers. If↓ you can meet the expαectations of Facebook consumers now, then over time,β you can also add new features and lead consumers in t§he direction you expect. In the end, you are likely to meet their nee✔ds.