So far, 2018 has been all about new technology changing the way we live and interact. If predictions around the powers of artificial intelligence (AI) are correct, new technologies are all set to create a disruptive change in every domain, from healthcare to banking to aeronautics.

Bots, chatbots, robots, and AI are the trendy lexicons which have gripped the tech space right now, however different they may sound; they sometimes even leave the industry insiders perplexed. Here are the key differentiators between the technologies behind the buzzwords and how can you leverage your business by their implementation.

The Automated Task Planner

The term, bot is not interchangeable with chatbot as popular conventions go. Instead, bots are automated programs that crawl the internet pages in the search of specific information. In simple words, bots are programs that process information with or without humans noticing. The bot technology is behind when the phone recognizes a date in the text messages and suggests the user to add it to his/her Google calendar suggesting an important event, or a meeting. When you are ordering food just by texting a number and having it delivered without talking to a real human, bots is the technology behind it. Put in simple words, a bot is an application performing an automated task, like setting an alarm, informing about the weather, shopping for clothes, saving money and finding restaurants.

Conversing with Technology

Chatbots are simply programs designed to interact with humans through an automated conversation. While bots perform automated tasks without human interaction, a chatbot on the other hand, must chat and exchange information with the humans such as checking flight times or confirming travel dated before listing trains for reservations.

Chatbots allow users to interact via graphical interfaces or graphical widgets, including WeChat, Facebook Messenger and Whatsapp. These platforms allow web views on which developers create completely customized graphical interfaces. Put in simple words, a chatbot is another way where humans interact with technology and software.

Tasks Performed by Machines

A robot is designed by machines to execute programmed tasks automatically with speed and precision. The term Robot which first appeared in a 1920 play by Czech writer Karel Capek, R.U.R.: Rossum's Universal Robots comes from the Czech word, Robota, which means "forced labor." Today, Robots dominate the world in industries and in resembling humans.  Robots are increasingly being deployed as industrial robots to perform repetitive tasks in the logistics and the assembly line. The latest development in the robotics industry is the humanoid like Sophia, Junko Chihira Erica and Geminoid DK which resemble humans and are programmed to mimic human attics, thinking and emotions.

Myths Behind Chatbots and Robotics

Myth#1: AI Powers All Chatbots

While chatbots are very good at answering pre-programmed questions, they go off script when they are asked complex questions like refinancing student loans, or booking single hotel rooms with additional bedding for a parent and child. For now, through chatbots, we do have very good machine learning algorithms but are far away from programs that can learn for themselves. There are flow-oriented chatbots minus the machine learning technology that work with buttons and display predefined answers when a corresponding button is pressed. Even the creators of IBM Watson supercomputer, don't use the term Artificial Intelligence but refers the technology to be augmented intelligence that redefines the partnership between humans and machines.

Myth#2: Chatbots and Robotics will Snatch Human Jobs

A PwC report claims that robots and AI will take away 38% of all U.S. jobs in the next 20 years. However that may be a myth, Chatbots do reduce workload from human employees and leave them free for critical decision making jobs. Chatbots are good at repeated, routine job profiles like an assembly line, answering FAQ, receiving requests, lead generation etc. This will make way for a newer form of job profiles to emerge that require more of human critical thinking like customer relationship management, or employment is the creative and artistic fields.

Myth#3: Customers Hate Human Interactions

Going by Gartner reports, by 2020 85% of a customer's relationship with a brand will be through technology like chatbots, giving fuel to predictions that about 80% of companies will be using chatbots by 2020. Chatbots can handle simple queries in shopping or healthcare, but when it comes to talking about preferences and empathy, a human assistant is what is often needed.  A consumer study by PwC last March found that 8 in 10 U.S. consumers would still want to talk to a human, even if they have technology powered chatbots around them.

Bots, Chatbots, and AI are changing the ways we interact today. Data generated by our phones, web page visits or check-ins generate valuable inputs for technology to assist us through bots, chatbots and robots in customer service, healthcare banking and other industry offerings. The future is bright for these technologies to redefine interaction and business enterprises are taking their best efforts forward to deliver technology that was never the way before.