Conversational AI

Conversational AI is software that carries on a dialogue with a person in natural language, by text or by voice, to answer questions or complete tasks.

Three generations. The CFPB’s 2023 report on chatbots in consumer finance contrasts simple rule-based bots, which use decision trees or keyword lists to trigger preset responses, with systems built on large language models that predict what text should come next. Commercial platforms show how the approaches combine:

• Intent-based platforms. Amazon Lex V2 builds bots from intents, sample utterances and slots, and combines automatic speech recognition with natural language understanding. Google’s Dialogflow CX turns what an end user says into structured data that apps can use, organized as flows, pages, intents, entity types and webhooks.
• Generative features. Both platforms now add language models: Lex’s Assisted NLU uses them to improve intent and slot resolution while staying inside the bot’s configured intents, and Dialogflow CX supports generative playbooks alongside flows.

The usual components. Speech recognition for voice, language understanding to find the intent and details, dialog management to decide the next turn, fulfillment through APIs or webhooks that do the actual work, and text-to-speech for spoken replies.

Known failure modes. The CFPB report describes customers stuck in repetitive loops, unable to reach a person, and at risk when a bot recognizes a dispute only if the customer uses specific words. These are design questions: when to escalate, and how to recognize requests that carry legal rights.

Conversational AI and agent-to-agent exchanges. Conversational AI is built for people. When the other side is also software, such as a customer’s AI agent, natural language adds a translation step on each side. A2A lets the two agents exchange structured data parts inside a task, so an order number or refund amount travels as a field instead of a sentence. A business can offer both: conversation for people and a structured endpoint for agents.

Neighbouring terms. A voice agent is conversational AI on a phone call. Containment rate measures how much of it works without a person.