This isn't marketing/customer experiences first foray into chat automation. Watch any American sitcom from the mid 90's and there will be a scene involving a frustrating interaction with an automated phone service. I don't know about you dear reader, but I generally start any conversation with an automated system, repeated the word "Human" while tapping "0" on the keypad. I'm time/patience poor and if I need to call someone I'm getting through it as quickly as possible. This is taking into account my native Liverpudlian accent which means people have a hard time understanding my verbiage, let alone a machine's best guess.
It doesn't end there with the difficulties. Colloquialisms, turns of phrase, slang and changes in meaning, mean that computers are always going to be playing catch up to the human language machine, which is not so locked down in 0's and 1's. We need to ensure that in our efforts to improve customer experiences while keeping costs low we're not alienating or ostracizing our audiences. In New Zealand alone we have a richly diverse culture, with a myriad of languages being spoken as well Te Reo place names that even amongst Te Reo speakers there is debate over the correct pronunciation. I'm sure we all remember the Vodafone initiative to get Google behind the correct pronunciation of place names.
Voice search is on the rise, and people are getting more and more used to engaging with machines - it seems like this is the way that customer experience is headed. I know I've been straight onto Twitter to complain when a company has done me wrong, waiting for a social media rep to deal with my issue. Why? Because I have an issue, and I need it rectified immediately and it's not like I'm going to send a postcard. More and more customers are expecting immediate satisfaction and what easier way to do that, than with a robot.
So what's to be done? It's easy, pay attention. Look at your chat logs, work with the technology, find the gaps in understanding and fill them. Particularly with those that already have a difficult time getting fair access in our society. AI will never have the warmth or understanding of a human, but it's also far more consistent and unable to even consider being rude (yet). So embrace the technology with a human heart, be compassionate and patient, and understand with anything trying to learn it's going to take time and there will be teething issues.