Recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI) have catalyzed a sea change in the ability of computers to engage in live, human-like conversation with people. Today we are seeing conversational AI systems with unprecedented sophistication in their ability to converse in a manner that is practically indistinguishable from speaking with a human. Going far beyond Alexa or Siri responding to a simple query, today’s state-of-the-art conversational AI (CAI) systems navigate complex dialogue, understand nuanced intent, navigate multi-topic, multi-turn conversations and articulate cogent, on-point responses. The rise of CAI is creating a new paradigm for customer experience, personalization and productivity in the modern workplace. As a venture capital investor who focuses on AI and business software, I have been privy to the breakthroughs in CAI and invested in industry-leading companies.
Back in the 1960s, researchers at MIT pioneered ELIZA, an early natural language software, that attempted to simulate human dialogue. However, ELIZA and programs like it were severely limited in their real-world applicability. These systems were programmed with brittle rules and canned responses and could only handle a very narrow set of use cases without breaking down.
By contrast, today’s CAI systems are powered by machine learning, giving them far greater dexterity as well as the ability to self-improve over time. The revolution in CAI has benefitted from an abundance of data as well as the continuously improving price-performance of compute—both necessary ingredients to train good AI systems. And, crucially, recent years have seen extraordinary funding and talent funneled toward developing groundbreaking large language models, which provide a core foundation for the development of conversational AI applications.
Continue reading: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinesscouncil/2022/06/10/how-conversational-ai-is-supercharging-business-productivity-and-how-to-get-started/?sh=1e7b4c332645
Back in the 1960s, researchers at MIT pioneered ELIZA, an early natural language software, that attempted to simulate human dialogue. However, ELIZA and programs like it were severely limited in their real-world applicability. These systems were programmed with brittle rules and canned responses and could only handle a very narrow set of use cases without breaking down.
By contrast, today’s CAI systems are powered by machine learning, giving them far greater dexterity as well as the ability to self-improve over time. The revolution in CAI has benefitted from an abundance of data as well as the continuously improving price-performance of compute—both necessary ingredients to train good AI systems. And, crucially, recent years have seen extraordinary funding and talent funneled toward developing groundbreaking large language models, which provide a core foundation for the development of conversational AI applications.
Continue reading: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinesscouncil/2022/06/10/how-conversational-ai-is-supercharging-business-productivity-and-how-to-get-started/?sh=1e7b4c332645
