Organizations are turning to conversational AI to meet communication demands, with the adoption of chatbots and conversational interfaces reaching an unprecedented scale. Yes, it's time to get comfortable speaking with machines. Conversation – whether it's with customers, or between employees – is a very informal process, but thanks to AI, we may be able to better capture the essence of these discussions. That's the word from a report out of Accenture, which notes that conversation is "also a complex construct. Even the simplest interaction has layers of richness and nuance--it takes effort and understanding to get conversation right."

Chatbots and conversational agents were some of the first AI applications to be developed -- MIT professor Joseph Weizenbaum created ELIZA in 1964 as a way to test the progression of realistic machine-to-human conversational interactions. Chatbots have evolved significantly from these early days but still are primarily text- or voice-based applications that respond back and forth to humans engaging in natural language dialogue. Within the last decade, companies have looked to apply these chatbots and conversational interfaces to a wide range of applications: from customer support and assistant-enabled commerce to new interfaces in automobiles and devices. Conversational interfaces reduce the complexity of the interface, provides constant service and support and feels more natural for human interaction. Simply put, people like to talk more than click or swipe.