In a fast-moving world, customers require efficiency and promptness when talking to any company. Here is where chatbots and Intelligent Virtual Assistants (IVAs) come into play.

在瞬息万变的世界中，与任何公司交谈时，客户都需要效率和及时性。 这是聊天机器人和智能虚拟助手 (IVA)发挥作用的地方。

Thanks to their ability to engage into more advanced conversations, unlike rule-based chatbots, AI-powered systems are equipped with a multitude of features to assist and even entertain the users in their day-to-day activities. In addition to their customizable features, their self-learning ability and scalability have lead virtual assistants to gain popularity across various global enterprises.

与基于规则的聊天机器人不同，由于其能够参与更高级的对话，因此， 基于 AI的系统配备了多种功能，可以帮助甚至娱乐用户的日常活动。 除了可自定义的功能外，它们的自学习能力和可扩展性还使虚拟助手在各种全球企业中获得了普及。

According to Grand View Research, the global intelligent virtual assistant market size was valued at USD 3.7 billion in 2019, growing at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 34.0% over the forecast period. The need for effectiveness across service-based companies and the integration of AI digital assistants among various devices, such as computers, tablets and smartphones, is anticipated to boost the market.

根据Grand View Research的数据，2019年全球智能虚拟助手市场规模为37亿美元， 在预测期内以34.0％的复合年增长率(CAGR)增长 。 预计跨服务型公司对效率的需求以及在各种设备(例如计算机，平板电脑和智能手机)之间集成AI数字助理的需求将推动市场的发展。

机器人在2020年能做什么？ (What can bots do in 2020?)

There is certainly no doubt that recent advancements in technology have significantly improved the performance of chatbots and IVAs. But, however flawless they may seem at first sight, we could all agree on the fact that bots are still terrible conversationalists.

毫无疑问，最新的技术进步已大大改善了聊天机器人和IVA的性能。 但是，尽管它们乍看之下似乎无懈可击，但我们都可以同意机器人仍然是可怕的会话主义者这一事实。

基于规则的聊天机器人。 人工智能驱动的聊天机器人。 (Rule-based chatbots. AI-driven chatbots.)

The basic rule-based chatbots are only accessible within chats and work on a single-turn exchange. In a nutshell, they react to questions asked by the user, detect the main intent, and return a single pre-defined answer accordingly. They are able to handle basic routine queries, for instance: FAQs, reservations, online orders or appointment scheduling (survey bots, meeting planners, foreign language tutors, travel & hospitality bots). Nevertheless, as soon as the user asks a question out of the bot’s learned set of knowledge, it will automatically lead to failure.

基于规则的基本聊天机器人只能在聊天中访问，并且只能在单回合上进行工作。 简而言之，他们会回答用户提出的问题，检测主要意图，并相应地返回一个预定义的答案。 他们能够处理基本的常规查询，例如： 常见问题解答，预订，在线订单或约会安排 ( 调查机器人 ， 会议计划者 ， 外语辅导员 ， 旅行和接待机器人 )。 但是，只要用户从机器人学到的知识集中提出问题，就会自动导致失败。

On the other hand, we distinguish the AI-powered chatbots, that rely on core Machine Learning technologies like Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Information Retrieval (IR) techniques. By applying such methods, tech giants like Facebook and Google have released open-domain multi-turn chatbots (see Meena and Blender), that are able to reproduce more human-like conversations. However, the implementation of open-domain bots remains incredibly challenging due to many direct limitations of deep-learning.

另一方面，我们区分了AI驱动的聊天机器人 ，它们依赖于诸如自然语言处理(NLP)和信息检索(IR)技术之类的核心机器学习技术。 通过应用这种方法，Facebook和Google等技术巨头已经发布了开放域的多回合聊天机器人(请参阅Meena和Blender )，它们能够重现更多类似于人的对话。 但是，由于深度学习的许多直接局限性，开放域机器人的实现仍然面临着难以置信的挑战。

搅拌器 (BlenderBot)

In April 2020, Facebook AI developed and open-sourced BlenderBot, the first chatbot to blend a diverse set of conversational skills — including empathy, knowledge, and personality — together in one system.

2020年4月， Facebook AI 开发并开源了BlenderBot ， 这是第一个将机器人的对话技能(包括同情心，知识和个性)融合到一个系统中的聊天机器人 。

For all the great progress it represents for conversational AI, Blender is still far from reaching the level of humans. One of the challenges lies in its tendency to make up facts — because sentences are being generated from statistical correlations, and not from a knowledge database. As a consequence, it can string together an in-depth and coherent description of a well-known superstar, for example, but with entirely false information. The team intends to experiment further with integrating a knowledge database into the chatbot’s response generation system.

尽管它为对话式AI带来了巨大的进步，但Blender仍远没有达到人类的水平。 挑战之一在于其趋于事实化的趋势-因为句子是从统计关联而不是从知识数据库生成的。 结果，它可以将对知名超级巨星的深入而连贯的描述串在一起，例如带有完全错误的信息。 该团队打算进一步尝试将知识数据库集成到聊天机器人的响应生成系统中。

聊天机器人会被IVA取代吗？ (Will chatbots be replaced by IVAs?)

Most probably, yes. But what about our “state-of-the-artists” Meena and BlenderBot? They seem to be pretty smart chatbots, don’t they?

很有可能，是的。 但是，我们的“最先进的” Meena和BlenderBot呢？ 他们似乎是非常聪明的聊天机器人，不是吗？

As enterprises across industries seek for ways to boost their customer experience, IVAs are highly likely to gather momentum over chatbots. You must now be wondering why, and the answer is relatively straightforward. Besides having the power of leveraging AI to drive transformations to the core of the business, IVAs are able to adapt and engage in more human-like conversations and enhance the user experience.

随着各行各业的企业寻求增加客户体验的方法， IVA很有可能在聊天机器人上积聚动力 。 您现在必须想知道为什么 ，答案是相对简单的。 除了具有利用AI推动业务核心转型的力量外，IVA还能够适应和参与更多类似于人类的对话，并改善用户体验。

While the so-called Voice Revolution is taking place, some organizations believe that avatars simulating real persons would lead to even more successful assistants. How successful? Remains to be seen, literally.

在所谓的“ 语音革命”发生时，一些组织认为，模拟真实人物的化身会带来更多成功的助手。 有多成功？ 从字面上看 ，还有待观察 。

糟糕！ Meena和BlenderBot只能... CHAT。 (Oops! Meena and BlenderBot can only… CHAT.)

If you’re reading this, you have most probably talked at least once to either Alexa, Google Assistant, Siri, Cortana, or Bixby. And if you haven’t yet, you must be curious why voice-enabled AIs have become so popular in the past years. Let’s take a closer look!

如果您正在阅读本文，那么您很可能至少与Alexa，Google助手，Siri，Cortana或Bixby进行了交谈。 而且，如果您还没有，那么您必须很好奇为什么语音AI在过去的几年中如此流行。 让我们仔细看看！

Conversational interactions facilitated by digital assistants and high-quality Voice User Interfaces (VUIs) are set to be the real game-changer in the coming years. As Automatic Speech Recognition advances, a great demand of voice search will lead smart speakers and in-car systems to go hand in hand with IVAs.

在未来几年中，由数字助理和高质量语音用户界面(VUI)促进的对话交互将成为真正的游戏规则改变者。 随着自动语音识别的发展，语音搜索的巨大需求将导致智能扬声器和车载系统与IVA紧密结合 。

Furthermore, voice technology is becoming increasingly important in the field of education. Supported by IBM Watson Machine Learning Accelerator solutions, DeepZen has developed deep learning and neural networks to recognize emotion in text and produce human-like speech. The organization believes that voice technology can help students with spelling and the practice of times tables, as well as teaching them about AI and the world of the future.

此外，语音技术在教育领域变得越来越重要 。 在IBM Watson Machine Learning Accelerator解决方案的支持下， DeepZen开发了深度学习和神经网络，以识别文本中的情感并产生类似于人的语音。 该组织认为， 语音技术可以帮助学生进行拼写和时间表练习，并向他们传授有关AI和未来世界的知识。

“Voice assistants are gaining popularity in education as more and more teaching apps are being developed.” — DeepZen

随着越来越多的教学应用程序的开发，语音助手在教育中越来越受欢迎。 ” — DeepZen

我从来没有……看过虚拟助手。 (Never have I ever… SEEN virtual assistants.)

A different approach is coming from Samsung’s subsidiary STAR Labs, which has officially unveiled its “artificial human” project, Neon, at CES 2020. Neon is basically about creating digital avatars — computer-animated human likenesses — still unknown to the public up until today. The company explains that “Scenarios shown at our CES Booth and in our promotional content are fictionalized and simulated for illustrative purposes only.”

三星的子公司STAR Labs采取了另一种方法，该公司已在2020年国际消费电子展上正式推出了其“人造人”项目Neon。Neon基本上是要创建数字化身-计算机动画的人像-直到今天仍然是公众所不知道的。 该公司解释说：“我们在CES展台和促销内容中显示的场景都是虚构和模拟的，仅供参考 。”

Taking things further, Replika has already integrated a beta version of 3D avatars, leading to many controversial reactions from the users’ part. While many are excited about visually interacting with their replika and the technology behind it, others have decided to go back to the older version. Ever since the update, Replika’s Twitter page has been hosting comments of users feeling “uncomfortable” and “scared” regarding the new “terribly creepy” avatars.

更进一步， Replika已经集成了3D化身的beta版，从而引起了用户方面的许多有争议的React。 尽管许多人对与副本及其背后的技术进行视觉交互感到兴奋，但其他人却决定回到旧版本。 自更新以来，Replika的Twitter页面上一直托管着用户对新的“令人毛骨悚然”的化身感到“不舒服”和“害怕”的评论。

SO, whether these avatars are part of successful digital assistants’ road ahead still remains an open question.

因此，这些化身是否是成功的数字助理前进道路的一部分，仍然是一个悬而未决的问题。

带回家的消息。 (Take-home message.)

The number of organizations using virtual assistants is expected to skyrocket in the coming years, given the fast-paced evolution of NLP technologies, the rise of voice search, and, respectively, the development of e-commerce and e-learning. In other words, the previously mentioned emerging trends lead us to believe that old traditional rule-based chatbots are very likely to be substituted by IVAs.

鉴于NLP技术的快速发展 ，语音搜索的兴起以及电子商务和电子学习的发展，使用虚拟助手的组织的数量预计将在未来几年激增。 换句话说，前面提到的新兴趋势使我们相信， 传统的基于规则的传统聊天机器人很可能会被IVA取代。

Mind that in spite of it all, challenges and concerns of conversational AI development are numerous and bots remain presumably flawed.

请注意，尽管如此， 对话式AI开发仍面临许多挑战和担忧，并且机器人可能仍然存在缺陷。