How can I help? Chatbots offer full customer support with no call waiting

Just as text messaging has become a mainstream form of communication, attention is shifting to the chatbot as the next big thing for information management and customer service. Chatbots are computer programs that interpret human speech or written inquiries and decide which information is being sought. Although chatbots have been around since the 1960s, they have evolved into tools for giving out details or taking orders, such as when people search for a job or buy a movie ticket. The chatbot picks up keywords from sentences and matches them with a database to create replies. Thanks to advances in artificial intelligence and big data processing technology, the machines today can analyze and understand a wide range of speech and produce the exact services sought, said Goshi Yonekura, chief technology officer of Tokyo-based AI developer Alt Inc.