What Is A Visual Chatbot? How Do They Work?

Visual chatbots are AI computer programs that are designed by experts to be able to interpret and understand images.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has continued to demonstrate an ability to replace human interaction. Modern software developers and the businesses they serve alike have come up with lots of ways to use it to increase profits. Online chatbots have been a staple of online interaction for over a decade.

While they have helped consumers, many find them ineffective at best.

In fact 59% of all users felt it was too slow to react. 51% felt it was hard to understand the content being conveyed. 44% of all users felt that it provided ineffective solutions.

One of the most amazing developments of the last few years has been the rise of more accurate and human-like chatbots. Today's chatbots have many new ways to interact with users. Perhaps the most exciting is the use of visual information processing that can be combined with traditional chatbots. That makes this one even better for users and business owners alike.

What Is A Visual Chatbot?

Visual chatbots are AI computer programs that are designed by experts to be able to interpret and understand images. This one has been designed by experts to be able to interpret all kinds of images.

It has also been designed by experts to understand all kinds of video that is given to it by users in real time. The visual chatbot has been trained to respond to varied kinds of questions about the visual content that it is offered.

An effective visual bot has some amazing features. Did you know that it can identify damage on your vehicle in the aftermath of an accident?

Then it can provide a highly accurate estimate of the potential repair costs. These kinds of chatbots can also learn scan a user's face and walk them through the process of finding the right pair of glasses. It will show you to fix your wifi router or install an energy efficient lightbulb.

The many ways that a visual chatbot can help people are surprising and endless. Users have the chance to find all sorts of special, specific help that is just right for their needs.

Visual Chatbots vs. Regular Chatbots

Chatbots may seem like a relatively new development. Actually chatbots have a fairly long history. In fact the very first one began all the way back in 1960's. A man named John Weizebaum created a famous program called ELIZA.

ELIZA relied on the use of natural language processing programming. This is designed to mimic human speech patterns.

Another important milestone in the development of chatbots was ALICE in 1995. Users used the chatbot to input data and get a response. In many cases, this was very basic will little ability to move beyond the data to more complex responses.

This is where the next development came along. In a very real way, visual chatbots have eyes.

That means they can get access to your data in two important ways. They get language based data from the information you give them to via text. The visual chatbots also get data from the world around them.

Why Does My Chatbot Need To See?

Modern business owners have become increasingly interested in visual chatbots for some very good reasons.

Standard chatbots have offered users immense savings. Officials estimate that such chatbots have helped businesses save over $8 billion in the last year alone.

Using videos can take consumer help in a whole new direction. For example, a user may be seeking help with their computer. At the same time, they might not even know the make and year of their computer. A visual chatbot can discover it for them.

This gives the company an opportunity to better serve the needs of their clients and solve their problems.

While this kind of data can also be conveyed via text, pictures are richer and more accurate. People may also have varied types of speech patterns that are hard to discern. Someone from the northern part of Scotland uses very different language that someone living in Texas. The use of visual imagery takes over and allows for more efficient and easier communications.

The visual input helps remove many types of issues that can happen as a result of poor communication between the person and bot. This increases customer satisfaction and makes the users happier. It also allows for the reception of highly accurate data that can be more rapidly understood.

Examples Of Visual Chatbots

Visual chatbots continue to develop. Many current examples can be found on the market right now. While flawed, they illustrate the potential that can be unleashed when using this kind of technology.

Companies like IKEA have rushed to incorporate this kind of technology into many areas of their customer service. The company worked with a company called GrokStyle in 2018. Their goal was to create a visual search function in their IKEA Place AR app. The new process allowed their customers to take pictures of furniture that users liked.

They were able to use the pictures and get listings of additional products they might like.

This app allows for the display an item on top of an image. It also lets users see how the item might look in their own living room if they took it home. The project gathered widespread enthusiasm from the first and over 2 million in funding.

People who study chatbots believe they are 4 times more effective than standard methods in helping turn people from the merely curious to happy and satisfied clients. Adding visual help will make this technique more efficient.

Healthcare experts have long been champions of chatbots. Chatbots can help patients provide important data to their healthcare providers like period tracking apps and assistance for those recovering from cancer.

Northwell Health used a chatbot to help increase patient use of colonoscopies. Users report greater satisfaction with the use of chatbots. They can be used to show the doctor pictures about an injury as well as helping shy patients feel more at ease when seeking medical care.

How To Create A Visual Chatbot

Visual chatbots have many steps in order to make them work for your clients and your overall business goals.

It might seem that creating a visual chatbot merely involves integrating a webcam with your existing chatbot. The actual process of creating a visual chatbot is more complicated.

The visual chatbot must first have lots of images on hand in order to compare the data being shown to it. The program has to find a match for the images it is sent. At that point, it can figure out what kind of image it must work with to figure out what the user wants.

At that point it has to translate images into text. The aim is to the kind of relevant text information needed. That means having textural information that goes with the image. This is how museum chatbots work. Visitors have additional data to work with and learn about a given object they see on display.

Then the chatbot has to formulate a reply. Interactive visual dialogue is an important part of what they do for a given customer.

This is why and how the visual chatbot can be considered and intelligent program. That's because it can learn from the experience when interacting with clients.

A chatbot will discover that certain types of data are more important than other data. The chatbot will also learn that there's a certain type of conversation that tends to happen over time.

This kind of pattern allows it to identify what is going on in a given conversation and respond better to future queries.

Once this process has been completed, the chatbot generates an image. This is where advanced technology comes into play. For example, the chatbot can generate a heat map that identifies damage to a car and responds with a quote for the cost of repairs.

Interactive visual dialogue is the ultimate aim of any effective visual chatbot.

A good program can answer varied questions about a given image that it is shown.

It does this by relying on varied types of data. A visual chatbot needs a lot of data to really function well. It also needs an understanding of the client's needs as well as the needs of the business owner using it.

Researchers are constantly looking for ways to improve chatbots. One of their goals is to allow people to put in an image and then gain immediate information about the product merely by showing it to the visual chatbot.

An ideal visual chatbot should be immediately responsive, offer instant data and help the user narrow down what they really want. Applications currently on the market allow business owners to work with these chatbots and create their own versions.

Doing so has a lot of advantages. It can cut down on wait times and lead to faster service. It can also cut your costs and increase your profits and your client satisfaction.