#Chatbot apps for Business

[harshathusm]

How Much Does It Cost to Develop a Chatbot Like ChatGPT

The cost of developing a chatbot like ChatGPT will strictly depend on its complexity and features. Its aspects such as its natural language processing, integration capabilities, and user interface design will determine the overall cost price. Customization and maintenance also add to the budget over time. It helps users engage more with the product and communicate better. For the very best in solutions, USM Business Systems is the best mobile app development company to execute your idea with a chatbot.

USM Business Systems

Services:

Mobile app development

Artificial Intelligence

Machine Learning

Android app development

RPA

Big data

HR Management

Workforce Management

IoT

IOS App Development

Cloud Migration

[itsbotai]

The Benefits of AI Chatbots for Business Communication

In today's fast-paced digital landscape, effective communication is crucial for businesses aiming to enhance customer satisfaction and streamline operations. AI chatbots have emerged as a transformative tool, offering numerous benefits that can significantly improve how companies interact with their customers. This article explores the key advantages of implementing AI chatbots in business communication.

24/7 Availability

One of the most significant benefits of AI chatbots is their ability to provide round-the-clock support. Unlike human agents, chatbots do not require breaks or time off, making them available to assist customers at any hour. This constant availability ensures that businesses can cater to global audiences across different time zones, enhancing customer satisfaction and trust. Customers appreciate the instant responses they receive, regardless of when they reach out, which can lead to improved loyalty and retention.

Cost Efficiency

AI chatbots can dramatically reduce operational costs for businesses. By automating routine tasks such as answering frequently asked questions, scheduling appointments, and processing orders, chatbots free up human agents to focus on more complex issues that require personal attention. This not only enhances productivity but also minimizes the need for a large customer support team, leading to significant savings in labor costs. According to research, businesses can save billions annually by integrating chatbots into their operations.

Enhanced Customer Engagement

AI chatbots excel at engaging customers in real-time conversations. They can provide personalized experiences by analyzing user data and preferences, allowing them to recommend products or services that align with individual needs. This level of engagement fosters a deeper connection between the brand and its customers, encouraging repeat business and enhancing overall customer satisfaction.

Instant Responses and Reduced Wait Times

Customers today expect quick responses to their inquiries. AI chatbots can deliver instant answers, significantly reducing wait times compared to traditional customer service methods. This efficiency not only improves the customer experience but also helps businesses manage high volumes of inquiries without overwhelming their support teams. By providing immediate assistance, chatbots enhance overall service levels and customer satisfaction.

Lead Generation and Sales Support

AI chatbots are not just limited to customer support; they also play a crucial role in lead generation and sales. By engaging website visitors in real-time, chatbots can qualify leads, answer pre-sales questions, and guide users through the purchasing process. This proactive approach can lead to higher conversion rates and increased revenue for businesses.

Data Collection and Insights

AI chatbots can gather valuable data about customer interactions, preferences, and behaviors. This information can be analyzed to gain insights into customer needs and trends, allowing businesses to make data-driven decisions. Understanding customer preferences can help companies tailor their offerings, improve marketing strategies, and enhance overall service delivery.

Scalability

As businesses grow, so do their customer service needs. AI chatbots provide a scalable solution that can handle an increasing volume of customer inquiries without the need for significant additional resources. This scalability allows businesses to maintain high service levels even during peak times, ensuring that customer satisfaction remains a priority.

Conclusion

ItsBot’s AI chatbots have revolutionized business communication by providing 24/7 support, enhancing customer engagement, and reducing operational costs. Their ability to deliver instant responses, generate leads, and gather valuable insights makes them an indispensable tool for modern businesses. As companies continue to embrace digital transformation, integrating AI chatbots into their customer communication strategies will be crucial for staying competitive and meeting the evolving expectations of consumers. For installation of ai chatbots on your business’ website or to use app, touch with ItsBot. By leveraging the power of AI chatbots, businesses can enhance their customer service, drive sales, and ultimately achieve greater success in today's dynamic marketplace.

[uplogictechnologies]

Revolutionize your #appdevelopment with our cutting-edge #Chatbot Powered Services! Enhance #user experience and #efficiency effortlessly.

Visit: https://bit.ly/3HGlGNs

[go4whatsup]

WhatsApp API: Essential Features for Businesses You Need to Know

In today’s digital age, businesses are constantly seeking new ways to engage with their customers. One tool that has proven to be invaluable is the WhatsApp API. With over 2 billion users worldwide, WhatsApp offers a massive platform for businesses to connect with their audience. In this blog post, we’ll delve into the essential features of the WhatsApp API that businesses need to know to enhance their customer communication and drive growth.

What is the WhatsApp API?

The WhatsApp API allows businesses to integrate WhatsApp messaging into their own systems, enabling automated and scalable communication with customers. Unlike the standard WhatsApp Business app, the API is designed for medium to large businesses that need to handle large volumes of messages and require more robust functionalities.

Key Features of the WhatsApp API

1. Automated Messaging

One of the most powerful features of the WhatsApp API is automated messaging. Businesses can set up automated responses to common customer queries, ensuring that customers receive instant replies even outside of business hours. This not only improves customer satisfaction but also frees up staff to handle more complex inquiries.

2. Rich Media Support

The WhatsApp API supports rich media messages, allowing businesses to send images, videos, documents, and audio files. This feature is particularly useful for providing detailed product information, tutorials, and customer support. Rich media messages can make interactions more engaging and informative, leading to better customer experiences.

3. End-to-End Encryption

Security is a top priority for any business handling sensitive customer information. The WhatsApp API offers end-to-end encryption for all messages, ensuring that customer data is protected from unauthorized access. This high level of security helps build trust with customers and ensures compliance with data protection regulations.

4. Seamless Integration

The WhatsApp API can be integrated with various business systems such as CRM software, customer support platforms, and e-commerce sites. This seamless integration enables businesses to manage all customer interactions from a single interface, improving efficiency and providing a unified view of customer communications.

5. Interactive Message Templates

Interactive message templates allow businesses to create pre-approved messages that can include buttons for quick replies, call-to-actions, or links to websites. These templates streamline the communication process, making it easier for customers to respond and take action. For example, a template can be used to confirm appointments, track orders, or provide quick customer support.

6. Analytics and Reporting

Understanding customer interactions is crucial for improving service and strategy. The WhatsApp API provides detailed analytics and reporting features that allow businesses to track message delivery rates, response times, and customer engagement metrics. This data can be used to refine communication strategies and improve overall customer satisfaction.

Know How to Setup WhatsApp Business API? Learn More

Benefits of Using the WhatsApp API

Enhanced Customer Engagement

With the ability to send personalized and timely messages, businesses can significantly enhance customer engagement. The WhatsApp API allows for direct and meaningful interactions, which can lead to increased customer loyalty and higher conversion rates.

Increased Efficiency

Automating routine tasks and integrating WhatsApp with existing systems can greatly increase operational efficiency. Businesses can handle more customer inquiries with less effort, reducing the workload on customer service teams and speeding up response times.

Cost-Effective Communication

Compared to traditional communication channels like phone calls and SMS, WhatsApp messaging is a cost-effective alternative. The API allows businesses to send messages at scale without incurring high costs, making it an affordable option for businesses of all sizes.

Global Reach

With a presence in over 180 countries, WhatsApp provides businesses with a global communication platform. The WhatsApp API enables businesses to reach customers around the world, making it an ideal tool for expanding into new markets and supporting international clients.

Conclusion

The WhatsApp API offers a range of powerful features that can transform the way businesses communicate with their customers. From automated messaging and rich media support to seamless integration and advanced analytics, the API provides all the tools needed to enhance customer engagement, improve efficiency, and drive growth. By leveraging the capabilities of the WhatsApp API, businesses can stay ahead of the competition and provide exceptional customer experiences.

Know WhatsApp API Documentation: A Beginner’s Guide Learn More

FAQs

1. What is the difference between the WhatsApp Business app and the WhatsApp API?

The WhatsApp Business app is designed for small businesses and allows for manual messaging with customers. The WhatsApp API, on the other hand, is intended for medium to large businesses and offers automated, scalable messaging solutions.

2. How can businesses ensure the security of their messages on WhatsApp?

All messages sent via the WhatsApp API are protected with end-to-end encryption, ensuring that only the sender and recipient can read the messages. This high level of security helps protect sensitive customer information.

3. Can the WhatsApp API be integrated with existing business systems?

Yes, the WhatsApp API can be seamlessly integrated with various business systems such as CRM software, customer support platforms, and e-commerce sites, allowing for efficient management of customer interactions.

4. What types of messages can businesses send using the WhatsApp API?

Businesses can send a variety of messages, including text, images, videos, documents, and audio files. The API also supports interactive message templates with buttons for quick replies and call-to-actions.

5. How can businesses benefit from using the WhatsApp API?

Businesses can benefit from the WhatsApp API by enhancing customer engagement, increasing operational efficiency, reducing communication costs, and reaching a global audience. The API provides tools for personalized and scalable communication, leading to better customer experiences and business growth.

Looking to transform your business communication? Choose Go4whatsup for seamless integration and unparalleled customer engagement with the WhatsApp Business API. Our expert team will help you automate messaging, enhance customer interactions, and scale your operations effortlessly.

Get Started Today with Go4whatsup!

Boost your customer satisfaction and drive business growth. Visit Go4whatsup or contact us at admin@go4whatsup.com to learn more about how our WhatsApp Business API solutions can benefit your business.

Don’t wait — connect with your customers like never before with Go4whatsup!

[sdreatechprivatelimited]

IoT Applications in the Gaming Industry

[ariana1576]

Replika is an AI-based chatbot designed to mimic human interaction, providing comfort and companionship to its users. Click on the link to know more!

Likewise, get in touch with our experts to develop an AI-based chatbot customized to your needs.

[john-carle123]

Have you ever thought that a machine can provide answers in seconds which most humans can’t do in a minute? If a decade ago you imagined this, no one would have believed you, but today you can see it coming into reality through Artificial Intelligence (AI).

The technology that we come across today is advanced and high-tech eco technology. All credit goes to Artificial Intelligence (AI) chatbot that took it to new altitudes. AI chatbots have emerged as a game-changer by revolutionizing businesses in the digital age.

This blog will give you a brief about how AI chatbots for business can bring revolution to a greater extent and the reasons why you should choose AI chatbots to gain success in your business.

Before beginning with the blog let’s take a quick look at what AI chatbots are, how they truly work, and which are the best AI chatbots available in the market.

The Rise of AI Chatbot

AI chatbots are computer programs trained to have human-like conversations using Human Intelligence, Artificial Intelligence Technology, and Natural Language Processing (NLP) to provide solutions by automating responses to asked queries.

With the trend, AI chatbots drastically got popular for creating an interactive and friendly experience among customers. With the help of machine learning (ML) and NLP, AI chatbots can learn from their interactions with customers, becoming smarter and more clever over time as they gather more data.

AI chatbots are gaining popularity across various industries like finance, retail, healthcare, and many more. Through chat, text messages, and voice bots chatbots can be retained. This AI Technology has brought extraordinary convenience and efficiency to customer service, data processing, and human experience by helping businesses auto-generating custom conversational interfaces for customers.

The 10 Leading AI Chatbot Apps

1. Chat GPT

Chat GPT is one of the leading and best AI chatbots available on the internet. Introduced by OpenAI, it is a text-based AI chatbot that answers complex questions instantly. It has revolutionized the AI industry with its remarkable ability to interact with users, providing convincing and accurate responses that can surprise humans. It is convenient and easy to use.

2. Google Bard

After Chat GPT, Google Bard is the best AI chatbot designed by Google. It is a conversational AI chatbot that generates all kinds of text and image responses directly if users ask for them. It can export text in multiple file formats, accepts voice commands from users, and writes professional documents that include resumes, cover letters, professional summaries, etc.

3. Jasper AI

Jasper AI is an AI bot that helps to create content easily, the user needs to provide some basic inputs and Jasper AI will generate original and accurate content for them. It is a great option for businesses to generate content at exclusive prices and also saves time. Jasper AI offers a 7-day free trial and after that, a creator plan starting at $39/month.

4. Chatsonic

It is a revolutionary AI like Chat GPT that generates visuals, voice commands, and text to personalize customer interactions. Its powerful connection with Google search helps to come up with high-quality content. Its free trial plan provides 2,500 words without any cost. It is available for $12/month up to $1749/month on the number of words needed.

5. YouChat

Similar to Chat GPT, YouChat built by You.com works like a normal chat where you can ask a complete question the same way you ask a person. The answer is provided in the chat itself with a short and detailed answer summarized from various documents and websites. Its major benefit is that it cites sources from Google specifying where it pulled its information from.

6. Replika

It is a chatbot that has a name and an avatar that’s designed by the user itself. It is like your replica impersonating your personality. This chatbot design can track your mood and offer personalized conversation and emotional support. Replika can be a friend or your romantic partner. Replika is both free and subscription-based which unlocks multiple modes, games, and customization.

7. Perplexity

Perplexity is similar to other AI chatbots, launched by veteran developers. It not only features Q&A but also provide links to citation and related topics. Perplexity has its dedicated mobile app which requires no sign up and offers free unlimited access. It provides prompt suggestions to start the conversation and provides related topic questions to click on to continue the conversation.

8. Socratic

It is introduced by Google with numerous functions and features like fun graphics, and worksheet scanning to get specific curated answers. Socratic is more children-friendly as it provides solutions with fun graphics to help them understand the concept easily and also help with their homework. It is available for free on Play Store and App Store.

9. The New Bing

This app was introduced by Microsoft and works like a search engine with information on current events. Recently Bing’s chatbot moved from a limited preview to an open preview, which means it is freely accessible to everyone and easy to use, making it convenient for users.

10. Wysa

Wysa is a wellness chatbot that helps users deal with anxiety, stress, and depression. It is not any replacement for a professional doctor but it helps people with clinically proven self-help techniques. Users can write their views and the bot responds according to that input. Wysa is both free and subscription-based and it is adaptable in presenting solutions to users.

10 Reasons Why You Should Choose AI Chatbot for Your Business

1. Quick Solutions

The AI chatbots respond faster than many humans and provide immediate answers to asked questions, reducing the need for customers to wait on hold or for an email response. Chatbots are quick in generating responses.

2. Bots Offer Personalized Experience

AI chatbots provide unique answers every time a user asks, which generates a better touch of personalization for users. Based on the user’s previous interactions, AI chatbots provide customized recommendations or advice according to the user’s history.

3. Improve Customer Engagement

The chatbot solutions are accurate and convincing therefore, users re-visit the application directing to customer engagement. Even chatbots can analyze the data from themselves and provide necessary suggestions and offers to improve engagement.

4. Chatbots Can Increase Sales

Chatbots are one of the reasons for the increase in sales of businesses, as they provide multiple functions in one place like personalized recommendations, full-time availability, one-on-one customer interactions, and customer satisfaction.

5. Easy to Collect Feedback

Generally, chatbots help to ask for feedback from users at the end of their conversation. After that, it is easy to resolve the issues and work on the errors and defects to work on. To encourage feedback, customers can leave a rating or written response and in exchange get discount codes or special offers.

6. Multilingual Support

Multilingual chatbots are also called polyglot bots, which provide multiple language support to engage users all over the globe. Customers attract to those chatbots that address them in their preferred language based on their browser language or region.

7. Continuous Customer Service

Customer service is a sometimes-frustrating profession that can lead to agents losing their patience but bots don’t get frustrated or slow after working continuously. Chatbots are programmed in such a manner that they don’t require leave like humans.

8. Online Management

Chatbots work online on multiple channels- phone, messages, email, and social media platforms like WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram to connect with multiple brands and millions of users digitally. As users prefer to go digital these days, numerous apps integrate AI chatbots for generating users’ interest.

9. Increase Website Traffic

Potential customers and most of the GenZ are very active on social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Pinterest, etc. Chatbots can easily integrate with these apps and websites and can easily contribute to reaching a wider audience.

10. Helps to Generate Leads

Chatbots once collect the user information, can sync this information and generate leads in the future according to the user’s previous searches and preferences. So chatbots generate leads by assisting clients in making rapid decisions.

[dreamschat-dreamguystech]

Personalizing AI Chats: How to Customize DreamsChat and ChatGPT for Your Business

Introduction:

In the ever-evolving digital landscape, businesses are continuously exploring inventive strategies to amplify customer engagement and deliver tailor-made experiences.

With the continuous advancement of technology, AI-powered chat applications such as DreamsChat and ChatGPT have emerged as transformative tools, empowering businesses to provide unparalleled customer service and propel revenue growth.

In this post, we'll look at how you make the most of these innovative chat platforms to transform consumer interactions, produce stand out experiences, and gain a competitive edge.

Understanding the Power of Real-Time Chat Applications:

How can businesses leverage real-time chat applications to enhance customer satisfaction and build stronger relationships?

Real-time chat applications have become indispensable for businesses, enabling instant and seamless communication with customers. These applications facilitate efficient problem-solving, provide instant support, and create a convenient channel for gathering customer feedback.

Adopting A Chat-First Approach:

Cultivates stronger customer relationships and enhances satisfaction.

Demonstrates commitment to exceptional service and responsiveness.

Addresses customer queries and concerns in real-time.

Leveraging Convenience And Speed Of Chat Interactions:

Exceeds customer expectations.

Builds trust and differentiates from competitors.

Streamlining Internal Operations And Improving Efficiency:

Integrating chat applications into internal communication systems.

Enhances collaboration, knowledge sharing, and decision-making.

Enables quick and effective communication within the organization.

Improves productivity and enables swift responses to customers.

The Rise of AI Chat Applications:

AI chat applications have taken customer interactions to a whole new level:

They leverage NLP and machine learning to understand and respond accurately to customer queries.

DreamsChat and ChatGPT are notable examples with exceptional conversational capabilities.

These applications are ideal for businesses looking for advanced chat solutions.

These applications enhance customer satisfaction through prompt and personalized interactions.

Businesses benefit from the ability of AI chat applications to handle complex queries and adapt to user preferences.

Customizing DreamsChat and ChatGPT for Your Business:

a. Tailoring the User Interface: 

Personalize the chat app's interface to align with your brand's aesthetics and design philosophy. Incorporate your logo, brand colors, and intuitive navigation to ensure a seamless and immersive user experience.

b. Crafting Conversational Flows: 

Train your chat app to understand industry-specific terms, product knowledge, and frequently asked questions. 

By customizing the chatbot's responses and conversation flows, you can provide accurate and relevant information to customers, boosting their satisfaction and trust in your brand.

c. Implementing Contextual Awareness: 

Enhance the chat app's contextual understanding by integrating customer data from various touchpoints. 

By leveraging customer history, preferences, and behavior, your chat app can deliver personalized recommendations, anticipate needs, and provide targeted solutions, creating a highly tailored experience.

d. Multilingual Support: 

Expand your business's reach by integrating multilingual capabilities into your chat application. 

DreamsChat and ChatGPT offer translation services, allowing you to communicate with customers worldwide in their preferred language, thereby fostering inclusivity and accessibility.

Driving Business Growth through AI Chat Applications:

a. Lead Generation and Conversion: 

AI chat applications can act as virtual sales assistants, guiding customers through the purchase process and offering personalized recommendations. 

By analyzing customer behavior, preferences, and purchase history, these applications can proactively engage customers and increase conversion rates.

b. Customer Support and Issue Resolution:

AI chat applications excel in providing timely and accurate customer support. Their 24/7 availability ensures quick issue resolution, leading to improved customer satisfaction and retention rates.

With advanced sentiment analysis, these applications can also identify dissatisfied customers and escalate their concerns to human agents for prompt assistance.

c. Gathering Customer Insights: 

AI chat applications can collect valuable data about customer preferences, pain points, and buying behavior. 

Analyzing this data can provide actionable insights for product development, marketing strategies, and customer segmentation, enabling you to make data-driven business decisions.

d. Enhancing Customer Engagement and Personalization: 

AI chat applications enable businesses to deliver highly personalized experiences to their customers.

Through advanced data analysis and machine learning algorithms, these applications can understand individual customer preferences, purchase history, and browsing behavior. 

By leveraging this information, businesses can tailor their offerings, promotions, and recommendations to each customer's specific needs and interests, fostering a deeper level of engagement and loyalty.

By harnessing the power of AI chat applications across lead generation, customer support, issue resolution, and customer insights, businesses can unlock new avenues for growth and success.

These applications not only streamline and optimize customer interactions but also provide invaluable data-driven insights that can shape strategic decision-making. 

With AI chat applications as an integral part of the business ecosystem, companies can create a seamless and personalized customer journey that drives conversion, enhances customer satisfaction, and propels overall business growth.

Conclusion:

As businesses strive to deliver exceptional customer experiences, the integration of AI chat applications like DreamsChat and ChatGPT presents an exciting opportunity to revolutionize customer engagement. 

By customizing these chat platforms to align with your business objectives and brand identity, you can create personalized, efficient, and delightful interactions with customers, driving business growth and establishing a competitive advantage in today's dynamic marketplace.

Take your customer engagement to the next level with DreamsChat and ChatGPT. Contact us today to explore how our AI chat applications can revolutionize your customer experience. 

Let's transform the way you engage with your customers and unlock new opportunities for business growth.  Get in touch now! business@dreamguystech.com or give us a ring at +91 9942576886.

[perfectiongeeks]

Why do Businesses Around the World opt for Chatbot Services?

With the assistance of Chatbot Services, businesses will save time and effort big time. It helps them save money by replacing the human agents who are hired for providing customer support service. Not only this, but it will also help businesses to build trust with their potential audience which will surely enhance conversions. Customer experience is one of the most important aspects that play a huge role in enhancing conversion rates. The best way to boost your conversion is by implying Bot technology in your application or website. When it comes to ChatBots, these are basically personalities who act like humans and are conversing with your visitors right away as and when they need assistance.

Visit us:

[itsbotai]

The Role of ItsBot AI Chatbot in Scaling Small Businesses

Introduction:

Scaling a small business can be a challenging endeavor, requiring efficient processes, exceptional customer service, and effective resource management. In this blog, we explore the pivotal role of ItsBot AI Chatbot in helping small businesses scale. From automating customer interactions to streamlining operations, ItsBot offers a range of benefits that can drive growth and success for small businesses.

Enhancing Customer Service:

One of the key roles of ItsBot AI Chatbot in scaling small businesses is enhancing customer service. ItsBot can handle customer inquiries, provide instant support, and offer personalized recommendations. By automating routine tasks and providing 24/7 availability, ItsBot ensures that customers receive prompt assistance, leading to increased satisfaction and loyalty. With ItsBot's ability to handle multiple conversations simultaneously, small businesses can efficiently manage customer interactions, even during peak periods. This level of customer service not only improves the overall customer experience but also helps attract new customers and retain existing ones, contributing to business growth.

Streamlining Operations:

ItsBot AI Chatbot plays a crucial role in streamlining operations for small businesses. By automating repetitive tasks and handling routine inquiries, ItsBot frees up valuable time and resources. Small businesses can redirect their efforts towards core activities such as product development, marketing, and strategic planning. ItsBot's ability to provide accurate and consistent information also reduces the risk of human errors, ensuring a seamless customer experience. Moreover, ItsBot can collect and analyze customer data, providing valuable insights that can inform business decisions and optimize operations. By streamlining operations, small businesses can improve efficiency, reduce costs, and position themselves for scalable growth.

Driving Sales and Conversions:

ItsBot AI Chatbot can significantly contribute to driving sales and conversions for small businesses. By providing personalized recommendations, assisting customers throughout their buying journey, and addressing their concerns in real-time, ItsBot enhances engagement and encourages conversions. ItsBot's ability to understand customer preferences and offer tailored suggestions can lead to increased cross-selling and upselling opportunities. Additionally, ItsBot can collect valuable customer data, enabling small businesses to create targeted marketing campaigns and improve their overall sales strategies. By leveraging ItsBot's capabilities, small businesses can enhance their sales processes, increase customer satisfaction, and ultimately drive revenue growth.

Building Brand Reputation:

Another important role of ItsBot AI Chatbot in scaling small businesses is building brand reputation. ItsBot provides consistent and accurate information, ensuring that customers receive reliable support and assistance. By delivering exceptional customer service experiences, ItsBot helps establish a positive brand image and fosters trust and credibility. Satisfied customers are more likely to recommend the business to others, leading to organic growth through word-of-mouth marketing. ItsBot's ability to handle customer inquiries promptly and efficiently also contributes to customer satisfaction, further strengthening the brand reputation. As small businesses scale, a strong brand reputation becomes increasingly important, and ItsBot can play a vital role in establishing and maintaining it.

Conclusion:

ItsBot, an AI Chatbot offers small businesses a powerful tool for scaling operations, enhancing customer service, driving sales, and building brand reputation. By automating tasks, streamlining operations, and providing personalized support, ItsBot empowers small businesses to grow and succeed in a competitive market. Embracing the capabilities of ItsBot can unlock new opportunities and pave the way for sustainable growth and success.

[digitaledify]

Find out about 5 ways of artificial intelligence for businesses . For more information, read on.

[go4whatsup]

Explore the benefits of Go4whatsup and find the perfect WATI alternative for your unique needs. Uncover the advantages, features, and functionalities of both platforms in this comprehensive comparison. Make an informed decision with our insightful analysis for a seamless communication solution tailored to your requirements.

[atotovic]

How to create Sales Order in Business Central using Power Virtual Agent?

If you are using Power Virtual Agent, you can now connect it to Business Central and create Sales Orders directly from Power Virtual Agent, and here is how to do it.

Now, when chatbots are becoming a more and more popular way of communicating with customers, all users would like to do more via chatbots. As Microsoft’s response to tools that can make chatbots, there is Power Virtual Agents, and the real power of Power Virtual Agent (PVA) is enormous. But as business application specialists, we always try to think about how to connect it to some of our…

[homeswapsblog]

Best feature and functionality you should have in your travelling agency or business software

The yearly income for the travel and tourism sector is roughly 63% derived from online reservations.

You can handle online bookings effectively with a competent hotel reservation system. By automating reservation procedures, the possibility of human mistakes and financial losses in the hotel industry is decreased.

A simplified booking process also enables hoteliers to give customers a more user-friendly booking experience. While selecting a hotel reservation software, take into account the following factors.

The mechanism for booking hotels online :

A user-friendly interface that benefits both visitors and employees is a must for an effective hotel reservation system.

The reservation procedure will be greatly facilitated by a practical calendar front-desk perspective. The program must contain a plugin or JavaScript that can be integrated into the website for your hotel. It should also be able to link visitors to a portal or microsite where they can finalize their bookings online.

Without having to navigate through your website, the booking engine should give your visitors all the details they would need, such as rates, packages, hotel kinds, add-ons, inclusions, and other information.

Learn more: https://www.inspironlabs.com/

[mostlysignssomeportents]

“Humans in the loop” must detect the hardest-to-spot errors, at superhuman speed

I'm touring my new, nationally bestselling novel The Bezzle! Catch me SATURDAY (Apr 27) in MARIN COUNTY, then Winnipeg (May 2), Calgary (May 3), Vancouver (May 4), and beyond!

If AI has a future (a big if), it will have to be economically viable. An industry can't spend 1,700% more on Nvidia chips than it earns indefinitely – not even with Nvidia being a principle investor in its largest customers:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39883571

A company that pays 0.36-1 cents/query for electricity and (scarce, fresh) water can't indefinitely give those queries away by the millions to people who are expected to revise those queries dozens of times before eliciting the perfect botshit rendition of "instructions for removing a grilled cheese sandwich from a VCR in the style of the King James Bible":

https://www.semianalysis.com/p/the-inference-cost-of-search-disruption

Eventually, the industry will have to uncover some mix of applications that will cover its operating costs, if only to keep the lights on in the face of investor disillusionment (this isn't optional – investor disillusionment is an inevitable part of every bubble).

Now, there are lots of low-stakes applications for AI that can run just fine on the current AI technology, despite its many – and seemingly inescapable - errors ("hallucinations"). People who use AI to generate illustrations of their D&D characters engaged in epic adventures from their previous gaming session don't care about the odd extra finger. If the chatbot powering a tourist's automatic text-to-translation-to-speech phone tool gets a few words wrong, it's still much better than the alternative of speaking slowly and loudly in your own language while making emphatic hand-gestures.

There are lots of these applications, and many of the people who benefit from them would doubtless pay something for them. The problem – from an AI company's perspective – is that these aren't just low-stakes, they're also low-value. Their users would pay something for them, but not very much.

For AI to keep its servers on through the coming trough of disillusionment, it will have to locate high-value applications, too. Economically speaking, the function of low-value applications is to soak up excess capacity and produce value at the margins after the high-value applications pay the bills. Low-value applications are a side-dish, like the coach seats on an airplane whose total operating expenses are paid by the business class passengers up front. Without the principle income from high-value applications, the servers shut down, and the low-value applications disappear:

https://locusmag.com/2023/12/commentary-cory-doctorow-what-kind-of-bubble-is-ai/

Now, there are lots of high-value applications the AI industry has identified for its products. Broadly speaking, these high-value applications share the same problem: they are all high-stakes, which means they are very sensitive to errors. Mistakes made by apps that produce code, drive cars, or identify cancerous masses on chest X-rays are extremely consequential.

Some businesses may be insensitive to those consequences. Air Canada replaced its human customer service staff with chatbots that just lied to passengers, stealing hundreds of dollars from them in the process. But the process for getting your money back after you are defrauded by Air Canada's chatbot is so onerous that only one passenger has bothered to go through it, spending ten weeks exhausting all of Air Canada's internal review mechanisms before fighting his case for weeks more at the regulator:

https://bc.ctvnews.ca/air-canada-s-chatbot-gave-a-b-c-man-the-wrong-information-now-the-airline-has-to-pay-for-the-mistake-1.6769454

There's never just one ant. If this guy was defrauded by an AC chatbot, so were hundreds or thousands of other fliers. Air Canada doesn't have to pay them back. Air Canada is tacitly asserting that, as the country's flagship carrier and near-monopolist, it is too big to fail and too big to jail, which means it's too big to care.

Air Canada shows that for some business customers, AI doesn't need to be able to do a worker's job in order to be a smart purchase: a chatbot can replace a worker, fail to their worker's job, and still save the company money on balance.

I can't predict whether the world's sociopathic monopolists are numerous and powerful enough to keep the lights on for AI companies through leases for automation systems that let them commit consequence-free free fraud by replacing workers with chatbots that serve as moral crumple-zones for furious customers:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0747563219304029

But even stipulating that this is sufficient, it's intrinsically unstable. Anything that can't go on forever eventually stops, and the mass replacement of humans with high-speed fraud software seems likely to stoke the already blazing furnace of modern antitrust:

https://www.eff.org/de/deeplinks/2021/08/party-its-1979-og-antitrust-back-baby

Of course, the AI companies have their own answer to this conundrum. A high-stakes/high-value customer can still fire workers and replace them with AI – they just need to hire fewer, cheaper workers to supervise the AI and monitor it for "hallucinations." This is called the "human in the loop" solution.

The human in the loop story has some glaring holes. From a worker's perspective, serving as the human in the loop in a scheme that cuts wage bills through AI is a nightmare – the worst possible kind of automation.

Let's pause for a little detour through automation theory here. Automation can augment a worker. We can call this a "centaur" – the worker offloads a repetitive task, or one that requires a high degree of vigilance, or (worst of all) both. They're a human head on a robot body (hence "centaur"). Think of the sensor/vision system in your car that beeps if you activate your turn-signal while a car is in your blind spot. You're in charge, but you're getting a second opinion from the robot.

Likewise, consider an AI tool that double-checks a radiologist's diagnosis of your chest X-ray and suggests a second look when its assessment doesn't match the radiologist's. Again, the human is in charge, but the robot is serving as a backstop and helpmeet, using its inexhaustible robotic vigilance to augment human skill.

That's centaurs. They're the good automation. Then there's the bad automation: the reverse-centaur, when the human is used to augment the robot.

Amazon warehouse pickers stand in one place while robotic shelving units trundle up to them at speed; then, the haptic bracelets shackled around their wrists buzz at them, directing them pick up specific items and move them to a basket, while a third automation system penalizes them for taking toilet breaks or even just walking around and shaking out their limbs to avoid a repetitive strain injury. This is a robotic head using a human body – and destroying it in the process.

An AI-assisted radiologist processes fewer chest X-rays every day, costing their employer more, on top of the cost of the AI. That's not what AI companies are selling. They're offering hospitals the power to create reverse centaurs: radiologist-assisted AIs. That's what "human in the loop" means.

This is a problem for workers, but it's also a problem for their bosses (assuming those bosses actually care about correcting AI hallucinations, rather than providing a figleaf that lets them commit fraud or kill people and shift the blame to an unpunishable AI).

Humans are good at a lot of things, but they're not good at eternal, perfect vigilance. Writing code is hard, but performing code-review (where you check someone else's code for errors) is much harder – and it gets even harder if the code you're reviewing is usually fine, because this requires that you maintain your vigilance for something that only occurs at rare and unpredictable intervals:

https://twitter.com/qntm/status/1773779967521780169

But for a coding shop to make the cost of an AI pencil out, the human in the loop needs to be able to process a lot of AI-generated code. Replacing a human with an AI doesn't produce any savings if you need to hire two more humans to take turns doing close reads of the AI's code.

This is the fatal flaw in robo-taxi schemes. The "human in the loop" who is supposed to keep the murderbot from smashing into other cars, steering into oncoming traffic, or running down pedestrians isn't a driver, they're a driving instructor. This is a much harder job than being a driver, even when the student driver you're monitoring is a human, making human mistakes at human speed. It's even harder when the student driver is a robot, making errors at computer speed:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/01/human-in-the-loop/#monkey-in-the-middle

This is why the doomed robo-taxi company Cruise had to deploy 1.5 skilled, high-paid human monitors to oversee each of its murderbots, while traditional taxis operate at a fraction of the cost with a single, precaratized, low-paid human driver:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/11/robots-stole-my-jerb/#computer-says-no

The vigilance problem is pretty fatal for the human-in-the-loop gambit, but there's another problem that is, if anything, even more fatal: the kinds of errors that AIs make.

Foundationally, AI is applied statistics. An AI company trains its AI by feeding it a lot of data about the real world. The program processes this data, looking for statistical correlations in that data, and makes a model of the world based on those correlations. A chatbot is a next-word-guessing program, and an AI "art" generator is a next-pixel-guessing program. They're drawing on billions of documents to find the most statistically likely way of finishing a sentence or a line of pixels in a bitmap:

https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3442188.3445922

This means that AI doesn't just make errors – it makes subtle errors, the kinds of errors that are the hardest for a human in the loop to spot, because they are the most statistically probable ways of being wrong. Sure, we notice the gross errors in AI output, like confidently claiming that a living human is dead:

https://www.tomsguide.com/opinion/according-to-chatgpt-im-dead

But the most common errors that AIs make are the ones we don't notice, because they're perfectly camouflaged as the truth. Think of the recurring AI programming error that inserts a call to a nonexistent library called "huggingface-cli," which is what the library would be called if developers reliably followed naming conventions. But due to a human inconsistency, the real library has a slightly different name. The fact that AIs repeatedly inserted references to the nonexistent library opened up a vulnerability – a security researcher created a (inert) malicious library with that name and tricked numerous companies into compiling it into their code because their human reviewers missed the chatbot's (statistically indistinguishable from the the truth) lie:

https://www.theregister.com/2024/03/28/ai_bots_hallucinate_software_packages/

For a driving instructor or a code reviewer overseeing a human subject, the majority of errors are comparatively easy to spot, because they're the kinds of errors that lead to inconsistent library naming – places where a human behaved erratically or irregularly. But when reality is irregular or erratic, the AI will make errors by presuming that things are statistically normal.

These are the hardest kinds of errors to spot. They couldn't be harder for a human to detect if they were specifically designed to go undetected. The human in the loop isn't just being asked to spot mistakes – they're being actively deceived. The AI isn't merely wrong, it's constructing a subtle "what's wrong with this picture"-style puzzle. Not just one such puzzle, either: millions of them, at speed, which must be solved by the human in the loop, who must remain perfectly vigilant for things that are, by definition, almost totally unnoticeable.

This is a special new torment for reverse centaurs – and a significant problem for AI companies hoping to accumulate and keep enough high-value, high-stakes customers on their books to weather the coming trough of disillusionment.

This is pretty grim, but it gets grimmer. AI companies have argued that they have a third line of business, a way to make money for their customers beyond automation's gifts to their payrolls: they claim that they can perform difficult scientific tasks at superhuman speed, producing billion-dollar insights (new materials, new drugs, new proteins) at unimaginable speed.

However, these claims – credulously amplified by the non-technical press – keep on shattering when they are tested by experts who understand the esoteric domains in which AI is said to have an unbeatable advantage. For example, Google claimed that its Deepmind AI had discovered "millions of new materials," "equivalent to nearly 800 years’ worth of knowledge," constituting "an order-of-magnitude expansion in stable materials known to humanity":

https://deepmind.google/discover/blog/millions-of-new-materials-discovered-with-deep-learning/

It was a hoax. When independent material scientists reviewed representative samples of these "new materials," they concluded that "no new materials have been discovered" and that not one of these materials was "credible, useful and novel":

https://www.404media.co/google-says-it-discovered-millions-of-new-materials-with-ai-human-researchers/

As Brian Merchant writes, AI claims are eerily similar to "smoke and mirrors" – the dazzling reality-distortion field thrown up by 17th century magic lantern technology, which millions of people ascribed wild capabilities to, thanks to the outlandish claims of the technology's promoters:

https://www.bloodinthemachine.com/p/ai-really-is-smoke-and-mirrors

The fact that we have a four-hundred-year-old name for this phenomenon, and yet we're still falling prey to it is frankly a little depressing. And, unlucky for us, it turns out that AI therapybots can't help us with this – rather, they're apt to literally convince us to kill ourselves:

https://www.vice.com/en/article/pkadgm/man-dies-by-suicide-after-talking-with-ai-chatbot-widow-says

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/23/maximal-plausibility/#reverse-centaurs

Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg

CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en

[justforbooks]

The DeepSeek panic reveals an AI world ready to blow❗💥

The R1 chatbot has sent the tech world spinning – but this tells us less about China than it does about western neuroses

The arrival of DeepSeek R1, an AI language model built by the Chinese AI lab DeepSeek, has been nothing less than seismic. The system only launched last week, but already the app has shot to the top of download charts, sparked a $1tn (£800bn) sell-off of tech stocks, and elicited apocalyptic commentary in Silicon Valley. The simplest take on R1 is correct: it’s an AI system equal in capability to state-of-the-art US models that was built on a shoestring budget, thus demonstrating Chinese technological prowess. But the big lesson is perhaps not what DeepSeek R1 reveals about China, but about western neuroses surrounding AI.

For AI obsessives, the arrival of R1 was not a total shock. DeepSeek was founded in 2023 as a subsidiary of the Chinese hedge fund High-Flyer, which focuses on data-heavy financial analysis – a field that demands similar skills to top-end AI research. Its subsidiary lab quickly started producing innovative papers, and CEO Liang Wenfeng told interviewers last November that the work was motivated not by profit but “passion and curiosity”.

This approach has paid off, and last December the company launched DeepSeek-V3, a predecessor of R1 with the same appealing qualities of high performance and low cost. Like ChatGPT, V3 and R1 are large language models (LLMs): chatbots that can be put to a huge variety of uses, from copywriting to coding. Leading AI researcher Andrej Karpathy spotted the company’s potential last year, commenting on the launch of V3: “DeepSeek (Chinese AI co) making it look easy today with an open weights release of a frontier-grade LLM trained on a joke of a budget.” (That quoted budget was $6m – hardly pocket change, but orders of magnitude less than the $100m-plus needed to train OpenAI’s GPT-4 in 2023.)

R1’s impact has been far greater for a few different reasons.

First, it’s what’s known as a “chain of thought” model, which means that when you give it a query, it talks itself through the answer: a simple trick that hugely improves response quality. This has not only made R1 directly comparable to OpenAI’s o1 model (another chain of thought system whose performance R1 rivals) but boosted its ability to answer maths and coding queries – problems that AI experts value highly. Also, R1 is much more accessible. Not only is it free to use via the app (as opposed to the $20 a month you have to pay OpenAI to talk to o1) but it’s totally free for developers to download and implement into their businesses. All of this has meant that R1’s performance has been easier to appreciate, just as ChatGPT’s chat interface made existing AI smarts accessible for the first time in 2022.

Second, the method of R1’s creation undermines Silicon Valley’s current approach to AI. The dominant paradigm in the US is to scale up existing models by simply adding more data and more computing power to achieve greater performance. It’s this approach that has led to huge increases in energy demands for the sector and tied tech companies to politicians. The bill for developing AI is so huge that techies now want to leverage state financing and infrastructure, while politicians want to buy their loyalty and be seen supporting growing companies. (See, for example, Trump’s $500bn “Stargate” announcement earlier this month.) R1 overturns the accepted wisdom that scaling is the way forward. The system is thought to be 95% cheaper than OpenAI’s o1 and uses one tenth of the computing power of another comparable LLM, Meta’s Llama 3.1 model. To achieve equivalent performance at a fraction of the budget is what’s truly shocking about R1, and it’s this that has made its launch so impactful. It suggests that US companies are throwing money away and can be beaten by more nimble competitors.

But after these baseline observations, it gets tricky to say exactly what R1 “means” for AI. Some are arguing that R1’s launch shows we’re overvaluing companies like Nvidia, which makes the chips integral to the scaling paradigm. But it’s also possible the opposite is true: that R1 shows AI services will fall in price and demand will, therefore, increase (an economic effect known as Jevons paradox, which Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella helpfully shared a link to on Monday). Similarly, you might argue that R1’s launch shows the failure of US policy to limit Chinese tech development via export controls on chips. But, as AI policy researcher Lennart Heim has argued, export controls take time to work and affect not just AI training but deployment across the economy. So, even if export controls don’t stop the launches of flagships systems like R1, they might still help the US retain its technological lead (if that’s the outcome you want).

All of this is to say that the exact effects of R1’s launch are impossible to predict. There are too many complicating factors and too many unknowns to say what the future holds. However, that hasn’t stopped the tech world and markets reacting in a frenzy, with CEOs panicking, stock prices cratering, and analysts scrambling to revise predictions for the sector. And what this really shows is that the world of AI is febrile, unpredictable and overly reactive. This a dangerous combination, and if R1 doesn’t cause a destructive meltdown of this system, it’s likely that some future launch will.

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