Little did we know that one day humans and technology would be able to interact with one another. Since artificial intelligence (AI) came into the picture, it seems that the digital influence on lives has become prevalent and with conversational AI’s introduction, there is room for programmes to execute human-like conversations. Ranging from user-specific chatbots to personal assistants, the market is believed to be the next phase of digital evolution going forward. “In 2023, I think conversational AI dominated the technological landscape, taking advantage of natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning (ML). Sectors, particularly customer service, healthcare, and finance, seem to have benefited from communication and user experiences. Conversational AI is expected to evolve further by 2024, enabling intelligent, context-aware interactions. Industries such as e-commerce, education, and logistics are expected to thrive with procedures and user engagement,” Vipin Vindal, CEO, Quarks Technosoft, a custom software development company, told FE TransformX.
From what it’s understood, conversational AI-based developments have increased over the years. The four key elements of conversational AI are held as data mining, NLP, Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR), and ML. In terms of 2023, conversational AI trends which seemingly took centre stage were virtual web assistants, better user-oriented features, metaverse-based conversational AI applications, conversational AI-backed search engine optimisation (SEO), conversational AI-based personalisation, emotional support from conversational AI applications, and recording information for bettering conversational AI applications. It’s believed that conversations around conversational AI mainly come down to four programmes Siri, Google Assistant, Alexa, and ChatGPT. Data provided by Insider Intelligence, a market research company, showed that among the top virtual web assistants for 2023 related to US consumers, Google Assistant secured the top position with 85.4 million users, with Siri at 81.1 million users and Alexa at 73.7 million users. However, media reports suggest that the conversational AI program which made its mark in 2023 and for upcoming years is ChatGPT. Numbers provided by Exploding Topics, a marketing and advertising platform, have shown that ChatGPT has roughly more than 180 million users and that within five days, it secured over one million users. The platform further mentioned that openai.com clocks roughly 1.5 billion visits every month, with approximately 70% of ChatGPT’s traffic coming from YouTube. In February 2023, a study provided by UBS, an investment banking company, stated that ChatGPT is the most-expanding customer programme in history after it was reported that the application clocked a 100 million monthly user base in January 2023.
“I think conversational AI’s evolution in 2023 was fueled by factors such as breakthroughs in AI algorithms, the integration of datasets, and insights gleaned from user interactions worldwide. These elements are believed to have improved its conversational accuracy and contextual understanding. Expectations seem to centre around its ability to offer hyper-personalised interactions, understand nuances in communication, and exhibit a grasp of global contexts and languages,” Aditya Joshi CEO and MD, OpalForce, an Oracle solutions company, specified.
According to MarketsandMarkets, a market research firm, the global conversational AI sector was projected to clock $10.7 billion by 2023 and is expected to secure $29.8 billion by 2028, at a 22.6% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for the given timeline. For 2024, a survey done by Oracle, a computer technology company, has predicted that 80% of businesses should switch to virtual assistants. From a corporate perspective, conversational AI is expected to be an important factor in enabling more data-oriented product calls, which can lead to high sales and better customer retention. Market experts have emphasised that a conversational AI program such as ChatGPT can be a benefactor for different sectors of the economy, through its natural language processing and understanding potential. Market research suggests that conversational AI will be more inclined towards being multilingual and multimodal and that its democratisation will be a critical element. Numbers supplied by Demand Sage, a software company, ChatGPT is expected to clock a one billion dollar worth of revenue in 2024. Moreover, future predictions indicate that conversational AI’s progress will depend on ethical considerations and responsible governance.
“Industries that rely on information, and data and that see large gaps in knowledge amongst the workforce, are likely to be the first to be disrupted with the help of advanced conversational AI. Industries on the cusp of overhaul are believed to be customer support, BPOs, and triage of any kind, whether it be medical, technical or even legal. Currently, we are seeing an uptick in courtroom discussions around training data. Reportedly, tech companies have been laying off employees on account of the boost in AI,” Anirudh Asher, founder, Atomic Asher, an extended reality (XR) consultancy firm, concluded.
