Connectly, a startup operating in the area of conversational commerce, announced that it managed to raise $20 million in financing.
The startup received the mentioned investments as part of the Series B funding round, information about which was made public last Wednesday, September 11. This fundraising was led by Alibaba. Also, involved in the specified process were Unusual Ventures, Volpe Capital, RX Ventures, Falabella Ventures, and Philippos Kourkoulos Latsis.
Connectly was founded in 2020 by veterans of Facebook, Google, Uber, and McKinsey. This startup uses artificial intelligence models to help retailers expand their business by applying two-way customer messages.
The Connectly press release notes that most of the interactions between brands and consumers are carried out through old-fashioned one-way communication channels. In this case, it implies such practices as the use of SMS messages and notifications sent by e-mail. The startup notes that the appropriate communication channels provide little engagement and read rates.
Connectly thinks that companies need a two-way personalized conversation. According to the startup, the appropriate functional solution will allow the business to form the practice of effective communication with customers and will also become a factor in stimulating sales growth and improving the engagement rate.
Connectly notes that to overcome the mentioned problem, it uses a code-free platform. This platform provides companies with the ability to instantly generate interactive campaigns and apply artificial intelligence to automate two-way conversations with both potential customers and existing clients.
The press release also notes that the results of the Series B funding round are the latest stage in a series of Connectly milestones. The startup launched a Series A funding round in October 2023. Also last year, the startup rolled out an artificial intelligence-based assistant for recommending products called Sofia AI.
Moreover, over the past year, Connectly has managed to almost double its revenue. The number of startup staff has also increased significantly over the corresponding period.
Joscha Koepke, chief product officer at Connectly, said this year during a conversation with media representatives that the context in which an artificial intelligence-based chatbot is used plays a crucial role. In the context of discussions on the topic of introducing elements of humor into the functioning of chatbots, he noted that, for example, a customer support agent with machine intelligence specializing in handling flight cancellations should not be funny, since people in a stressful situation are likely to react negatively to jokes. At the same time, a virtual assistant who, for example, recommends fashionable products, can increase consumer engagement and generally improve the interaction experience as a result of wit. This example confirms that context defines a kind of condition of perception and is a very important factor in influencing the quality of impressions. It is also worth noting that the emotional background is important in, for example, the shopping experience. Consumers are guided by price indicators as primary factors, but a kind of moral component of this experience also forms motivation when choosing a virtual platform for solving certain tasks.
At the same time, developing artificial intelligence tools that have a sense of humor and are designed to actively interact with users is a difficult task. In this case, the difficulties are related to cultural differences and linguistic nuances. At the same time, a sense of humor is, in a certain sense, a relative concept. People have different perceptions and understandings of jokes. Some ironic or satirical comments about the facts and phenomena of life may be perceived extremely negatively by certain groups of people because of religious or other ideological beliefs and upbringing characteristics.
Joscha Koepke, during a conversation with media representatives, said that to solve the mentioned problem, developers use localized datasets and train artificial intelligence models to understand cultural sensitivity.
It is worth noting that currently, many large technology companies are making efforts to improve complex multilingual chatbots based on machine intelligence. The corresponding virtual products are being developed in most cases for cross-border e-commerce. Such artificial intelligence-based chatbots have the potential to change the way companies interact with international customers.
Tim Peters, chief marketing officer of Enghouse Systems, says that multilingual chatbots based on machine intelligence have significant potential for small and medium-sized businesses that seek to expand into international markets. Also, in this context, it was noted that the mentioned digital products, by providing real-time, accurate translations, can help companies overcome language barriers and simplify communication with customers around the world.
Pedro Domingos, emeritus professor of computer science at the University of Washington, says that humor is currently one of the most difficult tasks for artificial intelligence models. In this context, it was noted that there are different ways to train AI to generate and understand relevant content, but there is no guarantee of success.
Sean Vosler, founder of MovableType.ai says that complex data analysis is used to train artificial intelligence for humor. In this case, the researchers apply large amounts of information that contain examples of humor, such as jokes, comedic scripts, and the publications of corresponding content on social media platforms. Sean Vosler says that the mentioned datasets help artificial intelligence learn patterns in language that people associate with humor, including wordplay, cultural references, timing, and context.
At the same time, the mentioned task is not limited exclusively to machine intelligence training based on certain arrays of information. Dave Edwards, co-founder of Artificiality and former product manager at Apple, says that for artificial intelligence to successfully generate humorous content, AI must understand exactly what the audience identifies as funny and whether certain jokes are appropriate in a particular context.
It is worth noting that against the background of scaling up the integration of machine intelligence into human life, the issue of cybersecurity is becoming more relevant. Scammers also have access to artificial intelligence technologies, which is why their activities have become more sophisticated. In the context of the corresponding challenge in the cybersecurity area, personal awareness of users is important. For example, a query in an Internet search engine, such as how to know if my camera is hacked will allow anyone to get information about signs of unauthorized access to the device. It is worth noting that digital literacy is also a tool for countering cybercrime. Relevant information should be updated periodically, as fraudsters seek to use advanced technologies in their activities.
