Artificial Intelligence and chatbots have been a rage, owing to its utility and advantages. Chatbots have been here for quite a long time but they are fetching much more attention now because major social networks like Facebook, Slack and messenger services have entered into the space. Globally renowned companies have been incorporating AI into their systems, and aiming to tap newer audiences and attract more business. The hottest segment of this current trend is the market for conversational bots. From a customer point of view, it becomes really convenient to interact naturally with a bot, who can then get the work done for you in a smart way. Be it booking a cab, assistance in buying things online, making reservation, collecting information, searching for information online or talking to a customer centre executive, chatbots allows the user to perform all these functions by just chatting with the bot.

Chatbots are fast becoming the next big thing in the Mobile world. They represent a huge opportunity for brands as well because, now more than ever, people are using messenger apps more often than social networks. There are lots of excitement around the concept of chatbots, because there will be a complete transformation in the way we interact with internet. Many experts can bet their money that chatbots will replace apps in the near future. And it is easy to see why. The chat interface is much more simple, much more intuitive and has the potential to be much more personalized as per the user’s needs. But people will have slight barriers adopting it because they are used to tap interface. Performing tasks on chat is a behavioral change.

The Indian chatbot and AI startups are targeting even the not so tech savvy people in our nation. In the beginning it will not be easy for the users to get used to something like this, a habitual change from tapping to chatting. The challenge that chatbot startups face is that, though Indians understand what it means by ‘chat’, and most have them have used chat apps with their friends they still get confused about ‘how to chat’ with a (Ro)bot. Thinking of it as a ‘bot’, the natural reaction is to think that you need to write only in some certain ways. Hence despite its many advantages, getting majority adaptability to a new way to interact is a challenge.

User education is a vital component to bring the habitual change away from the tap interface to a more intuitive chat interface.

The AI and chatbot startups have to emphasize a lot on the fact that you can chat like you chat with a friend. The algorithms and engines are powerful enough to carry on conversations and act on instructions almost as accurately as a human being. In this regard, User education is a vital component to bring the habitual change away from the tap interface to a more intuitive chat interface. It is an ongoing challenge, but a challenge that sooner or later will be tackled.

And looking at the current scenario in India, the startups are on the right path. We are seeing a transition in the consumer pattern, and their overwhelming response to AI and chatbots. They are happy for the convenience, multi tasking and easy interface of such chatbots. It is difficult to quantify this adoption, but one major means of insight is the user reviews. In terms of response on social media, the early majority has started using the technology and talking about it. The amount of transactions being done through chats has steadily increased. And so has the services that are being built over chat. Another fact that supports the above observation is the large scale participation by developers and businesses. Facebook messenger has seen a large number of apps built and in turn their number of Indian users. Many big brands like HDFC, Intex, and Flipkart have integrated chat based solutions on their platforms.

In a survey conducted by us, we asked the users to choose three words that best describes the chat experience on AI bots such as Niki. 63 percent of users answered ‘fast’, ’smart’ and ‘simple’. Such a unanimous choice tells us that the Brand image of AI is spreading consistently across all regions and demographics of Indian users. There is no better day for a startup, than when the users truly start to understand what we are trying to do, and talk about the brand in exactly the ways we talk about it ourselves! AI is definitely the future, and our experience has shown that the common Indian is ready for this revolution.