Chatbots and Virtual assistants are quite different than each other although, they both perform a similar task. Chatbots are more conventional, rule-based frequently asked questions answer providers whereas virtual assistants are more intelligent and contextual, and able to respond to any queries most of the time, the prime difference between chatbots vs virtual assistants.
The common characteristics between Chatbots Vs Virtual Assistants are that both of them, use Natural Language Processing to understand typed-in queries, but virtual assistants are integrated with Artificial Intelligence and Machine learning which enables it to learn from experience. The integration of AI and ML makes virtual assistants more users friendly and they develop over time as they learn from their experiences.
Chatbots vs virtual assistants: Key Differences
| Parameters | Chatbots | Virtual Assitants |
|---|---|---|
| Communication Channel | Single | Multiple channels including Emails, SMS service |
| Adaptibility | Non-Adaptive | They can learn as Artificial Learning and Machine Learning are integrated |
| Understanding | Limited | More advance and accurate understanding of queries |
| Response | More like one way response FAQ type | More converstaional like human to human conversation and responsive |
| Context | Chatbots often failed to understand contextual queries when the flow of conversation is broken | Virtual Assistants can understand context and intent |
| Types | There is mainly 2types of chatbots 1. Built in Messengers 2. Standalone Application | There are various types of Virtual Assitants depending on the need of Service |
What is a chatbot?
If not most then some of us must have had a little experience in having a conversation with a chatbot. Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Skype, and more, has various bots that are a response to some of the most asked queries. When we ask a question, these bots respond with readymade answers.
Chatbots are really helpful for most of the service providers, when someone needs to ask any relevant questions about the service, they could ask that to the chatbot of the service provider and it will provide the most relevant answer to the queries.
Some use cases of chatbots are
- Patient Engagement
- Drug Information
- Social Media Interaction
- Help Desk
- Enterprise Questions and Answers
- Automatic Simple transaction
- Customer Support
Chatbots are really helpful in some of these cases and certainly increase user engagement and brand awareness which holds pretty massive importance.
Examples of Chatbots
Some examples of chatbots are
- eBay
- Swelly
- Kia
- Duolingo
- Bud Light, etc.
What is a virtual assistant?
We are using virtual assistants in our daily life, most on our smartphones. Who does not use the automated features of Google Assistant or Apple’s Siri or Amazon’s Alexa on our Smartphone or Smart home for various tasks huh?
For me personally, I love to open up Google Assistant on my phone and tell it to set my alarm clock without doing anything except for giving commands. Not just setting up an alarm clock, there are various other features of these intelligent virtual assistants, from checking up on the weather to scheduling an appointment.
There is a little confusion about chatbots and virtual assistants, as people often ask
Is Siri a chatbot?
No, Siri is not a chatbot. Siri is more of a conversational agent. You can have a complete conversation with Siri and it will not get lost and lose context in the middle of the conversation.
Siri is intelligent as AI and ML are integrated into its system and most importantly, Siri is learning and getting better over time using the Machine Learning features. What makes Siri different than a normal chatbot is its adaptive feature; it can catch up with our queries and can understand the context of our search intention.
Siri does not solely rely on its premade answers, it evaluates and analyzes the various source and provide us the best possible answer, thanks to one of the greatest revolution of Artificial Intelligence.
Same goes for Google Assistant and Alexa as people also ask
Is Google Assistant a chatbot?
The same answer goes for this question too. No, and the explanation is mentioned above.
Some of the FAMOUS Virtual Assistants or Personal Intelligent Assistants are
| Virtual Assitants | Developer |
|---|---|
| Google Assistant | |
| Siri | Apple |
| Cortana | Microsoft |
| Alexa | Amazon |
| Bixby | Samsung |
| AliGenie | Alibaba |
| Alice | Yandex |
| Celia | Huawei |
Chatbots vs virtual assistants: Why do we need them?
Chatbots are taking customer support on a whole new different level as you can literally access them at any time of the day, which is really important for customer service convenience.
The main difference of chatbots and virtual assistants would in the types of service they are offering. For a more personalized communicative service, virtual assistants are obviously the best choice due to the features they are offering. Giant companies are developing a personalized virtual assistant more and more.
But when it comes to normal queries related to the company and its services, chatbots are a big help in this case. For example, when you need specific drug information a chatbot could easily fulfill the user’s requirements and other services like these chatbots are a suitable solution.
Virtual Assistants are intelligent and get better over time and a good source of company and conversation as anyone can have almost a normal human to the human type of conversation with a virtual assistant.
As they offer a lot of features, the use of virtual assistants is increasing at a rapid rate in the business section.
We have given information on “Chatbots Vs Virtual Assistants” in this post. Chatbots and virtual assistants apart from their differences, they both are really useful in our everyday life.
Especially, chatbots in healthcare is a big deal and huge beneficial as symptoms checker, medicine reminder, drug recommendation, and many other facilities are being provided by healthcare chatbots. And virtual assistants are also beneficial for our day to day queries