Chatbots Vs. Virtual Assistants

The always-evolving digital realm of digital communication has adopted two technologies- Chatbots and Virtual Assistants. These technologies are powered by algorithms to smartly understand people interacting with them and deliver results to solve their queries. Several industries are showing a growing interest in adopting chatbots and virtual assistants for all the right reasons.

For instance, their amazing accessibility, ability to respond anytime, quick responses, and no impact on human emotions. Now, even though chatbots and virtual assistants sound closely related, there are several differences that set them apart. Let’s dive deeper into these differences.

What Are chatbots?

Chatbots are powered by automated digital assistants designed to reduce or eliminate human intervention in providing responses. Chatbots can interact through texts or voice-based commands. Modern chatbots are using artificial intelligence to upscale the quality and speed of their responses.

Several industries including healthcare, customer service, entertainment, and more have deployed the AI apps to boost their customer retention strategy. A report by Get Joys on AI’s impact on the future states that chatbots powered by AI will be used to execute at least 1 out of 4 surveys sooner than ever.

What Are Virtual Assistants?

Compared to chatbots, virtual assistants offer a broader range of services. These assistants are not limited to answering questions only. In fact, one can use virtual assistants to test code, write stories, generate images, etc. The ability of virtual assistants differs from each other depending on their purpose, brand, and the amount of data used for training them.

Core Differences Between Chatbots And Virtual Assistants

Purpose And Functionality

Chatbots are designed to answer queries instantly. These tools are customized for the industry or brand that is using them. Chatbots can support multiple languages and solve customer queries without human intervention. Most chatbots that use AI get smarter as much as they are used by learning inputs they receive and feedback from users.

Virtual assistants are developed for a broader purpose. Businesses develop virtual assistants to streamline several tasks including the generation of codes, texts, or images. Users can build fully functional apps using AI-powered virtual assistants like GitHub Copilot or ChatGPT.

Use Cases

Chatbots are helping businesses improve their customer satisfaction rate. Here are some examples

• E-commerce- Chatbots here assist users with their shopping-related questions, refunds, returns, shipment status, and more. Several top brands from around the world have adopted chatbots including Amazon, Flipkart, Shein, etc.
• Healthcare- Chatbots in this industry are trained to help patients solve their queries, find nearby healthcare assistance, check availability times, find prescriber medicines, and more.
• Entertainment- Brands like Netflix have adopted chatbots to help users find quick answers. The chatbot detects keywords in queries and delivers responses using FAQs.

Virtual assistants are focused on offering a wider range of services. For instance –

• Translations- Virtual assistants like ChatGPT can translate commands into multiple languages. ChatGPT can even talk in more than one language with its users making it a more friendly experience.
• Content Generation- Virtual assistants are often used to generate content from the very least input. Users use them to generate entire code scripts, blogs, graphics, and even animations.
• Debugging- Some virtual assistants like ChatGPT and GitHub Copilot are even capable of debugging codes. These products can recognize anomalies in codes and provide in-depth strategies for debugging.
• Learning– You can even learn using virtual assistants thanks to the massive size of data that is used to train them. ChatGPT’s GPT.4 version, for example, has been trained using over 1.7 trillion parameters and can surf the web in real time to generate accurate results.

Examples

A) Chatbots

• LYRO Robotics- LYRO Robotics is a customer support AI used on e-commerce websites. The chatbot uses Natural Language Processing (NLP) to provide responses in natural language. You can train the LYRO chatbot to make it deliver brand-centric responses.
• Meena By Google- The conversational AI by Google is one of the most powerful chatbots out there in existence. The chatbot is known for delivering logical and contextual conversations and has been trained on 341 GB of data.
• Rose AI Chatbot- This chatbot has its own personality and an interesting backstory. Rose lives in San Francisco and has a security background. The chatbot has an attitude and a personality that makes it a memorable tool to interact with.

B) Virtual Assistants

• Google Assistant- This powerful assistant by Google works to make smart devices easier to use and control. The tool lets users control connected devices using voice commands. You can turn on or off switches, call someone without touching the phone, play songs, and do much more using this smart virtual assistant.
• WriteSonic- Among the most popular new virtual assistants powered by the capabilities of AI, WriteSonic exists. The tool has a set of AI-powered categories that include a chatbot, a writer, an image generator, and more. The smart chatbot in this virtual assistant- ChatSonic can generate content within the conversation if asked by the user. It can generate images, texts, and codes as well.
• GitHub Copilot- The AI-powered virtual assistant is developed under a collaboration between GitHub and OpenAI. The tool is capable of generating entire scripts to build programs or debug them. You can use GitHub Copilot to speed up the development and deployment of programs.

Wrapping up

Chatbots and virtual assistants are still evolving but as brands like OpenAI have demonstrated their capabilities, they have also shown several challenges that exist in the industry. For instance, the cost to build smart AI-based conversational solutions.

So, if you own a business and plan to improve your customer experience by adopting one of the above two options, you should first project which technology will deliver you the best outcomes. So, hopefully, this in-depth comparison will help you decide whether chatbot development in businesses is more beneficial or integrating a smart virtual assistant into your business process.