Natural Language Processing will supercharge your business (Pt. 2)
If you don’t know what the different pillars of Natural Language Processing are and how they work together, start with Part 1, where I break down what exactly NLP is.
Outside of a few administrative hacks like meeting notes or voice-texting while walking, you may be really scratching your head about how NLP could possibly “supercharge” your entire business.
Let’s talk about it.
As with lots of XR and metaverse technology, there are some clear distinctions between NLP use cases “today” vs. “tomorrow.”
NLP Today
One of the most obvious and prevalent use cases for NLP tech in businesses right now is virtual assistants. Maybe you’ve used it on a retail shopping site, when the little chatbot pops up and says,“Thanks for visiting. Can I help you?”
Maybe you type in something like “Where do I reset my account?” or “How do I make a return?” and the chatbot fired back the appropriate link or information.
The NLP tech used on this bot was primarily utilizing the “Understanding of Language” service, and probably had a list of FAQs that were typed up and responded to in a database.
You’ve probably also noticed, like me, that these virtual assistants can be very hit-or-miss. Sometimes they are perfectly helpful, sending me the exact info I need about how to make a return.
But other times, I’ve found myself irritated to an unhealthy degree, begging it to release me to a real human. A great example was a time I needed to change my hotel reservation, and the chatbot would only give me information about how to cancel. I asked again to change my reservation, in every way I could possibly think of, but it would only let me cancel! And when I asked to speak to somebody, it told me very enthusiastically, “I’m here to help you!”
Come to think of it, I still haven’t gotten my refund after this conniving chatbot canceled my reservation and rebooked at the wrong rate…
So clearly, this tech can actually be detrimental when it falls short with customers. And now you might be wondering whether it’s ready to be trusted yet! But luckily, there are use cases that hold tons of potential right now.
Let’s get creative and combine multiple XR and NLP puzzle pieces together.
Imagine opening up your phone and pointing your augmented reality application at Mount Rushmore. Immediately, a little park ranger pops up next to you. Instead of spitting out an automated speech that you didn’t actually ask for, he just says quickly, “Welcome to Mount Rushmore! What do you want to know?
“When was this made?”
“Why was this created?”
“Are there controversies behind this monument?”
“What do people ask you about most often?”
No matter what you ask, the ranger could visually highlight different landmarks on the monument and verbally explain different parts of it. This can work because the “tech” is limited to very specific questions and answers, all on one clear topic.
And, since nobody’s hotel reservation is hanging in the balance, little foibles and misunderstandings wouldn’t be as detrimental as a customer service debacle like that hotel chatbot!
NLP Tomorrow
In the future, NLP will be present in nearly every corner of the digital world. Imagine stepping into a virtual reality world. A VR 3D avatar asks you how your day is going (possible today), matches your excitement level and banters back and forth for a moment (possible tomorrow). Then it asks you what game you want to play, you say “a mystery game,” and then that avatar picks something you’ll like (possible today).
But then as the game is loading, you and the 3D avatar have a conversation about how your day is going, you mention you were upset by something at work, and the 3D avatar consoles you and gives you a bit of the latest life advice, sourced from a collection of the experts you follow on Instagram (possible tomorrow).
Or imagine playing a tennis game with an opponent that becomes more aggressive and trash talks more as time goes on, and as you show that you’re getting frustrated! It will even know how to hit you where it stings!
But this won’t just make gaming more fun and interesting. This will change the face of employee training.
Imagine being able to talk to a patient or customer who is aggressive or extremely sad, and is changing their responses based on how you’re interacting with them? There will be no more rote “scripts” that anyone can figure out, or multiple choice interactions that are way too simple, and not at all immersive.
Where tomorrow is becoming today
There are a few areas where the NLP of “tomorrow” is quickly becoming available today. At GigXR, the company where I serve as the Senior VP of XR Product Strategy, we have been working on various ways to use NLP inside of our apps.
We use some tools to allow a user to tell the application to “push a button” or to “recall” the menu.
Other tools enable a user to command the patient to “walk around” or “raise your arms.” Those are all features our apps will have in the (dare I say NEAR!) future.
We are also working on enabling users to ask general medical questions like “When did this symptom begin?” or “How old are you?” with the patient responding in real time.
So what does this mean for your business right now?
Well, I’m convinced this is literally going to change the world! And that means your company will ride the wave; the only question is whether you’ll be riding ON it or UNDER it.
At GigXR, our HoloScenarios were named as Best Invention of 2022 in Time Magazine. They allow medical professionals to learn how to observe, diagnose, and treat patients. The conversation, though, is mainly via the instructor and students.
But we’re working on upgrades that allow each user to talk with a patient and hear responses in real time. You can imagine how that will revolutionize the entire healthcare training industry!
First, at the macro level:
Before HoloScenarios and the other apps from GigXR were created, healthcare professionals were mainly training with static / barely moving mannequins. Now, healthcare professionals are actually interacting with holographic patients that imitate real life symptoms. And soon, they’ll be talking with them!
Second, at the micro level:
Bedside manners matter in healthcare. Talking to a patient patiently, asking the right questions, and putting together all of the data that a patient gives you verbally is extremely important. Right now, no application has been able to put together all of these pieces of NLP alongside what HoloScenarios offers.
What would that kind of revolution look like in your industry?
Here are the questions you can ask yourself to get started:
- Where can NLP be used to increase realism in your employee training?
- Where could high-quality virtual assistants make your customer service more enjoyable and helpful to interact with?
- What kind of dream scenarios can you envision based on what we imagined together in this article? How can you take preliminary steps toward preparing for that kind of future?
Do you need further guidance on how to navigate this for your business specifically? DM me on LinkedIn and we can chat!
