Evolution of chatbots and conversational AI

When chatbots first entered the scene, they were hailed as a groundbreaking evolution in technology, poised to revolutionize the way businesses communicate with their customers.

The early versions, however, were not as impressive as many had hoped. Coupled with the growth of chatbot platforms and the ease with which anyone could create a chatbot, this led to a bad user experience and an overall lackluster performance, which hampered their reputation.

One of the primary failings of early chatbots was their lack of sophistication and nuance in understanding and responding to human language. These rudimentary versions were generally rule-based, relying heavily on pre-programmed scripts. This meant they were only equipped to handle very specific inputs and could easily be thrown off by anything that deviated from their script. As a result, users often found themselves in frustratingly circular conversations, where the chatbot failed to...