Putting The Bot On The Other Foot: 3 Things Chatbots Can Teach Us About Conflict

An area of focus for chatbots is avoiding and reducing conflict during their human-AI interactions. Whether making a product inquiry or trying to resolve a customer service issue, most of us have interacted with AI or chatbots. Anyone who uses Siri or Alexa is likely to have tales of queries gone wrong or frustrated attempts at seemingly simple requests. But in dismissing these as simplistic machines, what we may not appreciate is that they are often sophisticated tools. Their complex programing is designed not only to solve a wide range of queries but also to emulate more complicated interpersonal skills, such as minimizing conflict, essential in many customer service applications.