The computers that talk like us: How conversational AI could change lives, for better and worse

One particular subdiscipline, conversational AI, is paving the way for systems capable of holding a discussion at a human-like level, opening UP various doors in fields from customer services to sales and marketing. However, when it's no longer possible to distinguish between man and machine, a whole host of issues are bound to crop up, especially if AI models have not been developed and audited in a responsible manner. To hear more about the opportunities associated with conversational AI, as well as the potential pitfalls, we spoke to Dinesh Nirmal, head of data, AI and automation at IBM. Conversational AI refers to the different types of AI software or solutions that are designed for people to talk to and communicate with. We train conversational AI using vast amounts of input data, essentially language and phrases that teach it how to recognize words and imitate human interactions. In a business context, this is useful in many different situations, especially customer care.