The rise and rise of conversational AI: What is it and how does it work?

The 1927 German expressionist movie Metropolis featured one of the earliest depictions of a machine communicating with humans. It has remained one of science fiction’s favourite subjects ever since. And artificial intelligence (AI) has now made it the billion-dollar solution to improved efficiency and reduced costs.

By 2026, conversational AI deployments within contact centres will reduce agent labour costs by $80 billion, estimates a Gartner report. It has also projected that one in 10 agent interactions will be automated by 2026, compared with the current 1.6 per cent.

Indian companies are increasingly adopting conversational AI across contact centres to assist human agents with real-time guidance. Automating routine and transactional interactions such as account management, order confirmations, returns, and address change with smart