Top 10 Conversational AI Platforms 2023
By leveraging natural language processing and generative AI, conversational AI platforms enable businesses to build intelligent AI chatbots and virtual assistants that can understand and respond to user queries seamlessly.
We highlight the top Conversational AI platforms empowering enterprises to deliver personalized, efficient, and engaging customer experiences.
Here are our picks for the best conversational AI platforms:
Top Conversational AI Platform: Comparison chartHere is a head-to-head comparison summary of the best conversational AI platforms.
Best for Multi-channel support Top feature Natural language processing Starting price IBM Watson Assistant Advanced features Yes Supports up to 1000 concurrent call capacity Yes $140 per month Kore.Ai Automation Yes Auto-dialog generation Yes 20¢ per conversation Avaamo.Ai Conversational analytics Yes Branded AI voice capability Yes Available upon request Amazon Lex Affordability Yes Contact center integrations with Amazon Connect, Genesys Cloud CX, Amazon Chime SDK and AWS Contact Center Intelligence (CCI) Yes $0.004 per speech request &$0.00075 per text request
Oracle Digital Assistant Performing operational tasks Yes Prebuilt chatbots for Oracle Cloud applications such as Oracle Cloud ERP and Oracle Cloud SCM Yes $0.0232 unit price per request Microsoft Bot Framework Developers Yes Native integration with Azure cognitive services Yes $0.50 per 1,000 messages Cognigy.AI Contact center automation Yes Generative AI capability and AI-based voice gateway services Yes Available upon request Yellow.Ai Customization Yes No code builder and Text automation capability Yes Available upon request Acquire Ease of use and simplicity Yes One-way and two-way video capability; dynamic prioritization and intelligent routing Yes $500 per month billed annually plus $25 per agent per month Clinc Financial service companies Yes Omni-channel support – Alexa, web messenger and mobile apps; context retention capability Yes Available upon request IBM Watson Assistant: Best for advanced featuresBuilt on deep learning, machine learning, and natural language processing (NLP) models, the IBM Watson Assistant conversational AI platform enables your teams to build AI-powered voice agents and chatbots that deliver automated self-service support across all channels and touchpoints. It can search and find answers to customer inquiries in existing documents, websites, and knowledge bases in order to complete the user's intended action.
Figure A: IBM Watson Assistant analytics dashboardThe platform allows you to build an AI chatbot that can be trained to understand user requests and adapted to your business scenarios – it also can recognize plain-language responses from your customers, like synonyms, dates, times, and numbers. It integrates with various third-party services, including WhatsApp, Slack, Facebook Messenger, Kustomer, Zendesk and more.
PricingIBM Watson is available for free with basic features and paid versions with advanced features.
Also see: Best Artificial Intelligence Software 2023
Kore.Ai Experience Optimization (XO) Platform: Best for automationKore.Ai Experience Optimization (XO) Platform is designed to help businesses build, train, and deploy intelligent chatbots and virtual assistants that can understand and respond to customer queries in a natural, conversational manner.
Figure B: Kore.Ai bot administration real time status viewAside from the XO platform, the company also offers various solutions such as SmartAssist, an AI-native CCaaS solution; AgentAssist, which are virtual assistants supporting agents in real time; and BankAssist, which is an AI-native, omnichannel, conversational banking assistant pre-trained on 400+ retail banking use cases.
PricingKorea.Ai offers optional enhanced support at an additional cost – $2,000 per month for the standard plan and a custom quote for the enterprise plan.
FeaturesFigure C: Avaamo.Ai analytics view
Avaamo offers a skills builder that includes a flow designer for designing conversation, dynamic dialog, conversational IVR, and other tools that enable you to automate complex enterprise use cases.
PricingAvaamo doesn't advertise pricing on its website; the company encourages users to request a demo to learn about the platform and get custom quotes based on their needs.
FeaturesAmazon Lex is a chatbot-building technology by AWS, so it benefits from the cloud giant's extensive platform. It's a service that can help you build conversational interfaces using voice and text. Amazon Lex uses Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) to convert spoken language into text and Text-to-Speech (TTS) to convert text into spoken language. The platform has various components that work together to enable users to build intelligent conversational AI solutions for their businesses. They include:
Amazon Lex only charges you for what you use. You can also try the tool for free. You can process up to 10,000 text requests and 5,000 speech requests or speech intervals per month at no cost for the first year of trying the tool.
Request and response interaction pricing
Streaming conversation pricing
Automated chatbot designer pricing
You can use the AWS pricing calculator to calculate your monthly expense or contact an AWS specialist for pricing assistance to get an estimate.
FeaturesAlso see: Top Generative AI Apps and Tools
Oracle Digital Assistant: Best for performing operational tasksWith the Oracle Conversational AI platform, you can build chatbots that can engage in natural language conversations, understand user intents, and provide relevant responses and actions. The platform lets you connect with a chatbot through channels like Microsoft Teams or Facebook on your website or embedded inside your mobile app.
Figure E: Oracle Digital Assistant insights PricingOracle Digital Assistant platform pricing is available per request and as a subscription for SaaS customers by employee, named users, or sessions.
Supporting both code-first and no-code approaches, Microsoft Bot Framework provides a platform for creating conversational agents capable of interacting with users via channels such as online sites, Slack, and Facebook. The framework comprises various components:
Also see: Generative AI Companies: Top 12 Leaders
Cognigy.AI: Best for contact center automationEnhanced with generative AI, Cognigy's low code Conversational AI platform enables enterprises to automate contact centers for customer and employee communications. The platform offers customer service solutions like Conversational IVR, Smart Self-Service, and Agent + Assist. With Cognigy, users can design conversational flows, integrate with backend systems, and customize the behavior of their chatbots or virtual assistants to suit their specific business needs.
Figure G: Cognigy.AI insights dashboard PricingThe platform doesn't advertise its pricing on its website. To get quotes, businesses are required to contact the company for a demo to discuss their needs. Publicly available information revealed the platform costs as follows.
Our analysis found that Yellow.Ai is a battle-tested conversational AI platform used by over 1,000 enterprises across 70 countries. Yellow.Ai dynamic automation platform is designed to automate customer and employee interaction and conversations across text, email, and voice. The platform is fluent in over 135 languages and supports over 35 channels.
Figure H: Yellow.Ai overview dashboard PricingYellow.Ai AI chatbot pricing are as follows:
Publicly available information on the AWS marketplace reveals that the Yellow.Ai Basic Plan, which includes a basic chatbot with one use case and tiered conversation limits, costs $10,000 for 12 months, while the Standard Plan, which includes a Standard chatbot with four use cases and tiered conversation limits, costs $25,000 for 12 months.
FeaturesFeaturing live chat, video and voice calling, AI chatbots, co-browsing and centralized interaction management, Acquire conversational AI platform empowers users to help customers resolve complex issues in real time. The platform aims to improve customer satisfaction, increase conversions, and enhance customer support efficiency.
Figure I: Acquire.Io admin dashboard PricingClinc's AI platform is designed to provide personalized and natural language-based experiences for applications like virtual assistants, chatbots, and voice-controlled devices. The company has been particularly involved in developing AI systems for the financial and banking sectors, where their technology is used to create virtual banking assistants that allow customers to check balances, report lost or stolen cards, transfer funds, and gain deep insights into their spending habits.
PricingPricing is available upon request.
FeaturesThe computer's ability to understand human spoken or written language is known as natural language processing. NLP combines computational linguistics, machine learning, and deep learning models to process human language. This feature enables the conversational AI system to comprehend and interpret the nuances of human language, including context, intent, entities, and sentiment.
Omini-channel experienceThe best conversational AI platform allows you to engage with your customers across multiple channels and touchpoints such as websites, mobile apps, messaging platforms (like Facebook Messenger, Instagram or WhatsApp), voice assistants (such as Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant), and more. The tools we analyzed in this guide allow you to engage with your customers across various channels.
Sentiment AnalysisThe best conversational AI tools are trained to analyze digital text to deduce the emotional tone of the message – which could be positive, negative, or neutral. This capability allows chatbots to respond to customers in a more personalized way or empathetic manner.
Integration with third-party servicesIntegration capability is an important feature of any modern-day digital solution, especially for conversational AI platforms. Seamless integration with third-party services like CRM systems, messaging platforms, payment gateways, or ticketing systems allows businesses to provide personalized experiences.
Analytics and insightsConversational AI platforms often provide analytics and insights into user interactions. This data can help businesses understand user behavior, identify common queries, and improve the effectiveness of the AI system.
How to Choose the Best Conversational AI Software for Your BusinessWhile there are hundreds of conversational AI platforms marketed as the best system, each tool has its strengths and areas of weaknesses. What seems to be a strength for company A may be a weakness for company B and vice versa. Choosing the right conversational AI software for your business can significantly impact customer interactions, operational efficiency, and overall success. So, how do you select the best conversational AI platform for your business?
Keep in mind that the best conversational AI software for your business will depend on your unique needs, goals, and the preferences of your customers.
How We Evaluated the Best Conversational AI PlatformsThe best conversational AI platform is easy to use, offers features that meet the intended users' needs, balances quality service and affordability, and allows businesses to integrate with tools and services they already use.
Core features – 30%We evaluated each platform's core offerings and their ability to serve the needs of businesses in various industries. Our analysis considered features like NLU, multi-channel support, flexible deployment, multi-lingual and other essential features.
Cost – 25%We researched each conversational AI platform pricing strategy and model. We also checked for pricing transparency and the availability of free demos and trials to allow potential buyers to test out the platform before making a purchase decision.
Integration – 15%We checked whether the conversational AI platform integrates with third party services such as CRM, ITSM, and various communication channels such as websites, messaging apps, voice assistants, and social media platforms.
Ease of use – 15%We reviewed each platform's usability to determine if it's beginner-friendly. A user-friendly dashboard makes it easier for non-technical team members to manage the AI. So we checked if the platform has an intuitive interface for setting up and managing conversational flows.
Customer support – 15%To score each conversational AI platform for this category, we analyzed user feedback on review sites and considered the types of support offered by each company.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) What features should I look for when evaluating conversational AI platforms?Consider the following features when shopping for a conversational AI platform:
Conversational AI platforms are software solutions that leverage the innovations of AI, deep learning, and NLP technologies to enable automated, human-like interactions between computers and users through natural language.
These platforms facilitate seamless communication across various channels, such as chatbots, voice assistants, messaging apps, websites, and more. They are designed to understand user inputs, interpret their intentions, and provide relevant and contextual responses.
Which industries can benefit from adopting conversational AI platforms?The potential applications of conversational AI are vast. Any industry that involves customer interactions, information dissemination, and process automation can benefit from leveraging conversational AI platforms.
Bottom Line: Conversational AI PlatformsAs businesses seek to enhance their customer interactions and improve overall efficiency, conversational AI platforms offer organizations the opportunity to forge stronger connections with their audience, provide instant assistance, and gather valuable insights from user interactions. From understanding user intent to generating coherent responses, conversational AI platforms help business create lifelike conversations that meet customer needs efficiently.
Read Next: Top Natural Language Processing Companies
Hackers Can Use AI To Guess Your Passwords—Here's How To Protect Your Data
Artificial intelligence (AI) has been making our lives easier in many areas, from automating tasks to extracting information from big data files. However, not everything AI does is in our best interest. AI password cracking has also increased because artificial intelligence can hack passwords in seconds.
"In recent years, there has been a significant surge in the development of artificial intelligence, enabling the creation of tools that automate tasks related to prediction, generation, analysis and retrieval," says Ameer Al-Nemrat, PhD, an expert in information security and computer forensics at the University of East London. "Disturbingly, offensive applications of AI include intelligent password guessing techniques designed to evade detection."
After running more than 15.6 million common passwords through PassGAN, an AI password cracker, a recent Home Security Heroes report found that the software could crack any seven-digit password in less than six minutes—even if they contain symbols, numbers and lower- and uppercase letters. Additionally, the AI cracked 51% of these usual types of passwords within a minute, 65% within an hour, 71% within a day and 81% within a month. After seeing these worrying results, you'll undoubtedly take online security more seriously. Examine your password list, identify any weak password security and replace them with good passwords that are long and complex. Read on to learn how to protect yourself from AI password cracking.
Can AI be used to crack passwords?Most definitely. Conventional hackers rely on manual effort, common tools and expert knowledge to achieve their objectives. At the same time, those possessing AI capabilities can use it to automate tasks, enhance tools and avoid detection, according to Al-Nemrat.
"The use of AI empowers adversaries to expedite the attainment of their goals," he says. "For instance, machine learning can assist in extracting credentials, intelligently selecting the most suitable target, monitoring users for information-gathering purposes or identifying previously unknown vulnerabilities in software."
As per the report mentioned above, the time for AI to crack passwords depends on the length and complexity of the password. Rahul Mahna, managing director at EisnerAmper's Outsourced IT Services team, says that many people use passphrases, which are longer and more complex passwords, but even those can be hacked. "The concern now is if a person's passphrase can be determined by machine learning from their social media and other postings, then that phrase can become compromised," he warns.
How can hackers use AI to crack passwords?AI can help hackers expand their operations through automation, reducing the reliance on human labor, thus enhancing the likelihood of success, Al-Nemrat notes. He says the following AI methods can support their endeavors:
Automate the creation and execution of spear phishing attacksSpear phishing is a type of phishing that includes information known to be of interest to the target, like current events or financial information. Hackers target people with fraudulent text messages, emails, phone calls, invoices and more to get hold of sensitive personal data.
Analyze and derive insights from data gathered through OSINT (Open Source Intelligence)OSINT collects publicly available data from search engines, social media, professional social networks, published articles and academic papers, government reports, the dark web and more. "Machine learning can skim pictures found on a potential user's social media to see recurrence of text such as a dog's name tag," explains Mahna. "This can be coupled with the ability to listen to a user's voice in postings and hear the emphasis on certain words being said. Then, intelligently inferring the users' proclivity toward a password or phrase."
Carry out simultaneous attacks on multiple organizations"In essence, AI empowers adversaries to target a larger number of organizations with more precise and targeted attacks, all with a reduced workforce," Al-Nemrat summarizes. This allows for deeper penetration into a network by targeting a greater number of assets.
How can you protect your passwords from these hackers? SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY/Getty ImagesMahna believes that risk is mitigated by diversity, a principle common in many disciplines, including password protection. He suggests the following methods to help you protect yourself against hackers.
Unique passwords everywhereMahna emphasizes having different passwords for each website, device or service. Don't worry about remembering all these passwords, since password managers can not only store your passwords but can also generate unique combinations for you.
Long passwordsUsing long passwords that include numbers, lower- and uppercase letters and symbols—and are not easily understood or inferred—will enhance the protection element.
Personal privacyPosting too much information online—like on Facebook or Instagram—about your life is not a good idea if you're concerned about security. It can provide information about your whereabouts, assets and family.
"Recent examples showed how a person posted they went on vacation, and their house was broken into because of their stated absence," Mahna says. "Using this as a reality, AI will learn at a much quicker rate of such occurrences and be able to better time an intrusion, and possibly discover passwords or gaps and attempt logins during a vulnerable period—even potentially disabling security measures like multi-factor authentication."
What to do if you think you've been hackedIf you assume you've been hacked, first you should disconnect from the internet (if possible) before taking further steps, such as scanning for malware or viruses, changing passwords and activating or enabling two-factor authentication (2FA), Al-Nemrat recommends.
Additionally, Mahna says that the best way to handle an attack is to prepare in advance, like changing your passwords frequently. Here are more things you can do if you suspect you've been hacked:
Monitor your creditAssuming the worst scenario, Mahna suggests exploring credit monitoring services to help mitigate after a hacking event occurs. These companies alert you if any changes are made to your credit reports or if your credit score changes, so you can keep an eye out for fraudulent transactions.
Create new accountsIf possible, instead of changing your password after you've been hacked, start fresh and create a new account instead. "It's not a fun process, but often a new account will have increased security mandates and make the experience of that service far more compelling," he concluded.
Sources:
These 3 Artificial Intelligence (AI) Stocks Are In Trouble: Why You Should Avoid Them In 2023 And Beyond
The artificial intelligence (AI) market caught fire over the past year as the rapid growth of generative AI platforms like ChatGPT dazzled investors. That boom drove the bulls straight toward leading AI plays like Nvidia, which supplies the chips for processing complex AI tasks, and Microsoft, the biggest backer of ChatGPT's parent company, OpenAI.
But not everything that glitters across the AI market is gold. Today, I'll look at three troubled AI-oriented stocks -- C3.Ai (AI -3.19%), SentinelOne (S -0.24%), and Domo (DOMO 5.51%) -- that investors will want to avoid at all costs.
Image source: Getty Images.
1. The catchy ticker symbol: C3.AiC3.Ai attracted a lot of attention when it went public in December 2020 for three reasons: It had a catchy ticker symbol, it was founded by the industry veteran Tom Siebel, and it was growing like a weed.
Its AI algorithms, which can be integrated into an organization's existing software to automate and streamline tasks, also made it a promising play on the digital transformations of sprawling organizations.
But today, C3.Ai trades about 30% below its initial public offering (IPO) price. The bulls retreated as C3.Ai's growth cooled off, it remained deeply unprofitable, and rising interest rates popped its bubbly valuations.
It also has gone through three chief financial officers since its IPO, repeatedly changed its customer growth metrics, and abruptly pivoted from a subscription-based model to a usage-based one to cope with the macro headwinds over the past year. C3.Ai also still generates more than 30% of its annual revenue from a joint venture with the energy giant Baker Hughes that is set to expire in fiscal 2025 (which ends in April 2025), and there's still no guarantee that crucial deal will be renewed.
Revenue rose 38% in fiscal 2022, but it grew a mere 6% in fiscal 2023 (compared to management's initial outlook for 22% to 25% growth). The company claims it can generate 10% to 20% growth in fiscal 2024, but its habit of overpromising and underdelivering raises more than a few red flags.
It's also expected to stay unprofitable by both generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) and non-GAAP measures this year. On top of all of those flaws, C3.Ai's stock still looks expensive at 11 times this year's sales.
2. The AI-driven cybersecurity play: SentinelOneSentinelOne impressed the bulls upon its public debut in June 2021 with its breakneck revenue growth and ambitious goal of replacing all human cybersecurity analysts with its Singularity platform's automated AI-powered algorithms. Unfortunately, this hypergrowth cybersecurity stock now trades more than 50% below its IPO price.
After more than doubling its annual revenue in each of the past three fiscal years, SentinelOne expects its revenue to rise 40% to 42% in fiscal 2024 (which ends next January). Management mainly blamed macro headwinds for the slowdown, but SentinelOne's larger and more diversified competitors -- including Palo Alto Networks and CrowdStrike Holdings -- have also been rolling out more AI-powered tools.
That competitive pressure is troubling, because SentinelOne still isn't profitable by GAAP or non-GAAP measures. It also recently changed the way it reported its annual recurring revenue (ARR) to account for some "historical inaccuracies." Its critics are questioning the reliability of its fully automated approach to countering cyberattacks without any human intervention, and several recent reports claim it's thinking of selling itself.
Those buyout rumors generated some fresh interest in SentinelOne's stock, but it still isn't a screaming bargain at 9 times this year's sales. Its shares could head even lower as long as it bleeds red ink and its revenue growth keeps cooling off.
3. The struggling underdog: DomoDomo's cloud-based platform enables business leaders to monitor their entire organization through unified dashboards on a single app. These dashboards bundle together a wide range of data visualization, analytics, and collaboration tools.
Domo initially caught the market's attention when it went public in 2018 because Amazon founder Jeff Bezos was one of its earliest investors. It also subsequently grew at a steady clip: From fiscal 2019 to fiscal 2023 (which ended this January), its revenue had a compound annual growth rate of 21%.
But for fiscal 2024, Domo expects its revenue to rise a mere 2% to 4% as it faces much tougher macro and competitive headwinds. It could be struggling to keep pace with larger tech companies, including Salesforce and Microsoft, which also bundle similar data visualization and business intelligence tools into their cloud-based ecosystems.
Like C3.Ai, Domo also shifted from stickier subscriptions toward a usage-based model to attract more customers in a more challenging macro environment. But that shift reduced its revenue per customer and likely eroded its own competitive defenses. It also remains unprofitable by GAAP and non-GAAP measures.
In its latest conference call, management mentioned "AI" more than 20 times and claimed that new AI-powered analytics tools would drive its long-term growth. But most of its larger competitors like Microsoft and Salesforce already provide similar AI-powered services. That's why Domo's stock now trades at a near-50% discount to its IPO price -- and why it still can't be considered a deep value play at just over 1 times this year's sales.
John Mackey, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Leo Sun has positions in Amazon.Com, CrowdStrike, and Palo Alto Networks. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Amazon.Com, CrowdStrike, Microsoft, Nvidia, Palo Alto Networks, and Salesforce. The Motley Fool recommends C3.Ai. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
