ThirdEye Data Founder Dj Das Featured in New Conversational AI Survey Report

Consumers indicate distrust toward the abilities of conversational AI tools like Google Duplex, but that trust will likely build as usage increases, according to a new survey report.

Clutch, a B2B ratings and reviews firm, and Ciklum, a global digital solutions company, conducted a survey of more than 500 people to gauge consumer comfort level with conversational AI.

Dj Das, Founder and CEO of ThirdEye Data, provided expert commentary on the data.

Distrust of Conversational AI Follows Similar Pattern

The survey found that 73% of people are unlikely to trust conversational AI tools like Google Duplex to make simple calls for them correctly.

Initial distrust of new technology isn’t a new phenomenon, though. Das described how the public reacted similarly when ATMs were first introduced – and these are now widely used.

“When ATMs first came to this world, people were so scared,” Das said. “They didn’t trust ATMs. At that time, I was in India. We never went to the ATM because we didn’t trust it.”

The pattern was the same for another now commonplace technology – self-checkout lines.

“I remember when they were introducing it…” Das said. “Those cues would always be empty because nobody would actually go to that automated cue to checkout because they didn’t want to scan their own items … They didn’t know how to deal with it.”

Das explained how the technology must prove itself before it’s more widely trusted and adopted.

“Whenever a new technology comes in, people always have this aversion…” Das said. “Once they understand how the technology is going to help them, and that it can really make their lives better, then they’ll start to adopt it.”

Conversational AI Can Benefit Businesses

Conversational artificial intelligence can benefit businesses, especially once consumers overcome any initial distrust.

For example, Das believes that conversational AI will offer a new frontier for revolutionizing call center services.

“In the next 20 years, call centers will go away,” Das said. “These call centers will probably handle only level 2 or level 3 support. Everything else will be done by the AI systems.”

He elaborated: “You’d call in and an AI system will understand who you are, what you’re talking about, and what they can do. It can understand the tone of your voice. It can understand if you’re angry or if you’re okay.”

The technology still has a long way to go to successfully complete these types of complex responsibilities. Yet, Das is optimistic about the future of conversational AI: “A lot of things have come together at the right time and the right place to get this bubble of AI happening … Decades of hard work by many people around the world have led to today’s euphoria about AI.”

Conversational AI Can Pose Security Risks

Clutch and Ciklum’s survey reports explores the potential security risks of conversational AI, including how it can be used to automate increasingly personalized scam calls.

While robocalls can pester thousands of people at once, they are often recognizably robotic, limiting their effectiveness. A tool as human-like as Duplex could more effectively dupe unsuspecting victims out of their personal information, while maintaining the automation of a robocall.

Yet, Das is optimistic that regulations will keep up with potential cybersecurity risks: “Whenever a new technology comes, people don’t know how to handle it … That’s very common,” Das said. “As things mature, we’ll understand what’s what and we’ll come up with data privacy and security laws.”