When we think of Artificial Intelligence (AI), we think of talking robots with a mind of their own, that are generally there to assist humankind with various tasks. Just like the preprogrammed AI horror doll from the 2022 movie, M3gan. While AI has become the new fade for the smartphone world, AI chatbots are a relatively new technology in the future of smartphone communication and are changing the way we communicate.
My last post about the top 10 AI apps for smartphones was primarily written using nothing but an AI chatbot, minus a few editing processes from myself. It’s amazing what we can do with these chatbots. So what are they, and how do they differentiate from our virtual assistants like such as Siri, Alexa, or Google Assistant?
Virtual assistants and chatbots are both computer programs that can simulate conversation with human users. However, there are some key differences between the two.
A chatbot is a computer program that simulates conversation with human users. You can ask them questions, have them give you a joke, tell you a story, give you updates on the news, or even resolve problems and help with homework or actual work you need to complete for your job. In this case, Chatbots are often used in customer service applications, in order to answer questions, provide information, and resolve problems.
They can also be used for a variety of other purposes, such as providing entertainment, education, and companionship.
How AI Chatbots Work
AI chatbots work by using natural language processing (NLP) to understand human language. NLP is a branch of artificial intelligence that deals with the interaction between computers and human (natural) languages. NLP is used in a variety of applications, such as machine translation, speech recognition, and chatbots.
When a user interacts with an AI chatbot, the chatbot will first use NLP to understand the user’s request. Once the chatbot has understood the user’s request, it will then use its knowledge base to generate a response. The chatbot’s knowledge base can be anything from a simple database of facts to a complex neural network. You will see this process used quite frequently for preprogrammed customer service chat requests on websites.
After processing the information given to them, the AI chatbot will then give you a response, and learn from users past requests to best assist you.
How AI Chatbots Differentiate from One Another
AI chatbots differentiate from one another in a number of ways, including:
- The size of their knowledge base. The larger the knowledge base, the more knowledgeable the chatbot will be.
- The sophistication of their NLP algorithms. The more sophisticated the NLP algorithms, the better the chatbot will be at understanding human language.
- The way they are trained. Chatbots can be trained in a variety of ways, including supervised learning, reinforcement learning, and unsupervised learning.
It is important to seek out a chatbot that meets your specific needs. Not all chatbots are created equally.
If you are looking for a chatbot that is knowledgeable and can understand your requests, then you should choose a chatbot that has been trained on a large dataset of text and code. If you are looking for a chatbot that is entertaining or educational, then you should choose a chatbot that has been designed for that purpose. If you are looking for a chatbot that is available on a specific platform, then you should choose a chatbot that is available on that platform.
Chatbots learn from your input, so be sure to vote if their responses fit your inquiry, or if you are satisfied with the response. Give alternative suggestions, so they can learn to adapt to your requests.
AI Chatbots for Smartphones
There are a number of AI chatbots that are available for smartphones. Some of the most popular chatbots include:
Replika
Replika is the virtual assistant developed by Apple.
This AI chatbot that has lofty goals: to become your close friend. You can customize how the bot’s avatar looks, from their gender to their hairstyle. Through conversations and sessions where you record your daily experiences, the bot learns about you. It is basically your own virtual companion.
When you use this chatbot, you gain experience points and increase in levels, with badges awarded according to how your Replika views your personality. Meaning, the more you use it, the higher points you will earn. The goal is to learn about you, and the bot is programmed to be inquisitive. With regular input, it grows smarter and gives more realistic responses in conversations.
While you can use the chatbot for free, it also has a subscription available. This unlocks more chat modes, games, and customization.
SimiSimi
This cute chatbot is a very basic one. It is very similar to the social media app Discord.
It was developed by a South Korean company, and is currently available in 30 languages. SimSimi is a popular chatbot, with over 100 million users worldwide.
SimiSimi has one main bot for everyone, as well as semi-automated user-created chats. Each chat is created to If you like certain chats, you can choose to add them to a friends list. If you create a SimSimi yourself, it will act as the avatar through which you interact.
While this app doesn’t have the most intuitive or natural bot, it’s entertaining if you would like to train your own SimSimi with automated responses.
SimSimi has been praised for its ability to hold engaging conversations with users. However, it has also been criticized for its ability to generate offensive or inappropriate content. In 2017, SimSimi was banned in Thailand after it was used to spread hate speech.
Overall, SimSimi is a powerful chatbot that can be used for a variety of purposes. However, it is important to be aware of the potential for SimSimi to generate offensive or inappropriate content.
Wysa: the Wellness Chatbot
This AI chatbot has a very specific goal: to helps users deal with anxiety, stress, and depression.
While it’s not a replacement for professional psychological help, it aims to help people cope with clinically proven self-help techniques. There are other AI bots and apps that help patients deal with their health, but Wysa is slightly different. Firstly, you can write your own response most times, rather than being forced to choose pre-written answers. Secondly, the bot responds according to your input.
There are other AI bots and apps that help patients deal with their health, but Wysa is slightly different. Firstly, you can write your own response most times, rather than being forced to choose pre-written answers. Secondly, the bot responds according to your input.
During conversations, the app does provide suggested responses to make it easier and quicker for you to reply. But these are optional the vast majority of times. There are also a series of commands you can give the bot so that it provides you with the correct conversational format (e.g. suggested activities, psychological explanations, or positive reinforcement).
However, interrupting the bot during a lesson or exercise tends to result in irrelevant or cookie-cutter responses. Luckily, you can start a new chat with the bot to get somewhat of a reset. If you keep rejecting the suggestions, the bot will eventually present you with some options.
Mydol: the FanBot
Mydol: the FanBot has a unique spin on boyfriend/girlfriend simulator bots.
This app is a very creative way to create a virtual conversation partner that isn’t just a fake love interest; instead, they are your favorite celebrity (unfortunately, they’re still a bot and not the real deal). The developers of the app state that Mydol can make your fandom more exciting, as you can hold conversations with a virtual version of your favorite celebrity.
The app will praise you, and feed into your ego, telling you how beautiful you are or giving you other compliments. It is likely a welcome break from reality for superfans, but a bit more awkward for those who are more reserved in their fandom. Either way, it is a pretty interesting app to check out.
Anima: Your AI Friend
Anima is similar to Replika, but you’re able to set your chatbot’s personality at the start, helping customize the AI to your needs and wants. You can also tell Anima five of your top hobbies or likes and it’ll steer conversation towards those if you start to run out of things to talk about.
In addition to changing your Anima’s personality, you can also change its look, gender, and even relationship status. To change the relationship status from Friends to Romantic Partners, you have to upgrade to a premium subscription. So you can create your own virtual romantic relationship. If dating wasn’t already hard enough?
Other Integrated AI Chatbots
Many company’s are beginning to create their own unique AI chatbots directly integrated into their systems. Many have been influenced by ChatGPT’s popularity.
Starting from February 22, 2023, the recently released Bing chatbot from Microsoft is now accessible via the Bing, Edge, and Skype applications on iOS and Android. You can now chat with Bing on your phone in the Microsoft Edge app to get answers from the web, create written content, gather trip planning ideas, and more.
Snapchat has also come out with an AI Chatbot of there own with the recent app update. Named “My AI,” Snapchat’s bot will be pinned to the app’s chat tab above conversations with friends.
Google has also joined the race between companies, creating their own AI chatbot called, Bard. On your mobile or desktop device, navigate to the bard.google.com via your browser.
These are just a few of the many AI chatbots that are available for smartphones. Chatbots are becoming increasingly popular, and it is likely that we will see even more chatbots being developed in the future.
The Benefits of AI Chatbots
There are a number of benefits to using AI chatbots:
- They can save you time. Chatbots can handle simple tasks, such as answering questions and providing information, so you can focus on more complex tasks.
- They can be more efficient. Chatbots can process information much faster than humans, so they can handle more requests in a shorter amount of time.
- They can be more accurate. Chatbots are not subject to human error, so they can provide more accurate information.
- They can be more personalized. Chatbots can be customized to your individual needs and preferences.
AI chatbots are a powerful new technology that has the potential to revolutionize the way we interact with smartphones & computers. Chatbots are already being used in a variety of applications, and it is likely that we will see even more chatbots being developed in the future.
While chatbots can be fun, there are controversial thoughts about how they collect data from us. People are have raised the concern of becoming more codependent with technology, and losing interpersonal skills because of chatbots. They are limited in the information and responses they can be give as well.
Because chatbots are less complex than virtual assistants, and require less money to develop, they require less resources, and are generally less integrated with other systems. Though it seems companies are beginning to integrate them with their own platforms.
If you are looking for a way to save time, be more efficient, and get more accurate information, then you should consider using an AI chatbot. What are your thoughts on chatbots and AI?