Differences between Conversational AI and Generative AI

Artificial intelligence has evolved significantly in the past few years, making day-to-day tasks easy and efficient. Conversational AI and Generative AI are the two subsets of artificial intelligence that rapidly advancing the field of AI and have become prominent and transformative. Both technologies make use of machine learning and natural language processing to serve distinct purposes and work on different principles. These technologies, though distinct in their applications and principles, both leverage the power of machine learning(ML) and natural language processing(NLP) to transform various industries.

In this article, let us explore what is Generative and conversational AI and how they work, and also let us compare generative AI and conversational AI by focusing on their respective abilities and features.

Conversational AI and Generative AI

What is Conversational AI?

Conversational AI refers to technologies that enable machines to understand, process, and engage in human language naturally and intuitively. The primary goal of Conversational AI is to facilitate effective communication between humans and computers. This technology is often embodied in chatbots, virtual assistants (like Siri and Alexa), and customer service bots. It focuses on interpreting user inputs, understanding context, managing dialogue, and providing appropriate responses.

What is Generative AI?

Generative AI, on the other hand, is primarily concerned with creating new content. This AI subset can generate text, images, audio, and video that did not previously exist, drawing on learning from vast datasets. It is known for its ability to produce creative and original content, which can include writing poems, composing music, creating art, or even developing realistic simulations. Generative AI models, such as GPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer) and DALL-E, are prime examples of this technology.

You can refer to our existing article – What is Generative AI?

How does Generative AI work?

The Generative AI works on complex algorithms and neural network architectures, like Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) and Transformers. These models are trained on large datasets, from which they learn patterns, styles, and structures. The AI then uses this training to generate new content that mimics the learned material. For example, a Generative AI trained on cat images to generate new image of cat in a similar style. Let’s understand working of Generative AI in detail.

1. Learning of Data: In Generative AI the first step is to learn from large amount of datasets for which AI is designed to generate such as code, text, images, code or all of these. For Example, ChatGPT 3.5 that is trained to generate any type of text content, code, and many more but it cannot generate images whereas ChatGPT 4 is trained to generate images also according to the instruction given by user.
2. Understanding Patterns: After the training of AI with the large sets of data. It became capable to understand the pattern and rules inherent in that data. The AI identifies these patterns using algorithms. For example, if we trained AI with the images of cat it will learn the pattern how their eyes, hairs, ears, nose, etc. look like or it can be anything we can train AI to recognize the text in the images, speech etc.
3. Creating New Content: After understanding the patterns, Generative AI can able to start creating new content. The AI can generate new pieces that is similar to original data but unique using the patterns it got learned. For example, an AI trained on pop music can compose a new piece that sounds like it was written by a pop music composer, even though it is entirely original.
4. Refinement and Variation: Refinement is also a part of Generative AI. It generate multiple variations, evaluate them, and then refine the generated data based on the feedback. For example, AI generated a music there is a need of pitch variation then AI refine it based on the goals and feedback.
5. Generative Models: Generative Models are crucial part of Generative AI and It used specific types of machine learning models. One common type is the Generative Adversarial Network (GAN). In a GAN, two neural networks – a generator and a discriminator – work against each other. The generator creates new content, and the discriminator evaluates it. Over time, this adversarial process leads to increasingly sophisticated and convincing creations.

How does Conversational AI work?

Conversational AI works by making use of natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning. Firstly it trained to understanding human language through speech recognition and text interpretation. The system then analyzes the intent and context of the user’s message, formulates an appropriate response, and delivers it in a conversational manner. Let’s break down the working of Conversational AI.

1. Listening and Understanding: This is the first step in conversational AI. It recognize the human text and speech by using the natural language processing to grasp their meaning and intent.
2. Analyzing Context: In this step conversational AI analyses the context which is like the background story which helps to figuring out what’s being said. The AI analyze the current and past conversations to understand the context.
3. Crafting a Response: After analysing the context now AI is ready to reply and give response to the human. It trained on large data set to give response and also learn from the past conversations using which it has to create new response.
4. Dialogue Management: It refers to keeping the flow of conversation smoothly like two friends talking to each other and here is Conversational AI is different from a normal chatbot.
5. Continuous Learning: As we know that AI is the technology that improve itself by learning continuously so, it also keep learning based on the interactions with humans. It learn the different ways of people speak, the kinds of questions they ask, and how to provide helpful answers.

Differences between Conversational AI and Generative AI

These both AI’s are two main components of artificial intelligence. While these both AI’s are part of artificial intelligence but have different properties and attributes and these both work differently. Both have very different approaches to work and are used to serve different purposes. Conversational AI and Generative AI varies in many ways and the major difference is that Conversational AI is used to make the interaction between machine and human as similar to communication between two humans where as Generative AI is used to generate the new content such as ideas, images and videos. Many application use both of these which includes Google Bard and ChatGPT.

Conversational AI	Generative AI
It aims to communicate with humans same as human communicate with each other.	It aims to generate new things like content, creative ideas, images and more using its past learning through a data set.
Conversational AI relies heavily on dialogue management and contextual understanding.	Generative AI is more about creative generation, often using complex models like GANs and transformers
Conversational AI typically trained on conversational datasets.	Generative AI is trained on a diverse array of content in the domain it aims to generate.
Conversational AI is predominantly used in customer service, personal assistants, and accessibility tools	Generative AI finds its use in creative fields, content creation, and even in simulations and predictive models.
This AI is mostly focused on the natural conversation and hence is trained like that.	This AI is mainly focused on creating new content whether it is in any form like image, audio, animation, or video format.

Conclusion

Conversational AI and Generative AI, while overlapping in their use of AI and NLP, serve distinct roles in the AI field. Conversational AI excels in simulating human-like conversations and improving interactions between machine and humans, making technology more accessible and user-friendly. Generative AI, meanwhile, pushes the boundaries of creativity and innovation, generating new content and ideas. Understanding these differences is crucial for leveraging their respective strengths in various applications.

FAQs on Conversational AI vs Generative AI

Q. What are the main uses of Conversational AI?

Conversational AI is mainly used in virtual assistants, customer service automation, and chatbots.

Q. Can Generative AI create entirely new content?

Yes, Generative AI can create entirely new content, whether it will be text, images, music, or other forms of media.

Q. Is Conversational AI limited to text-based interactions?

No, Conversational AI can also encompass voice-based interactions, as seen in smart speakers and voice-activated assistants.

Q. Can Generative AI be used in business applications?

Yes, businesses use Generative AI for a range of applications, including marketing content creation, product design, and data modeling.

Q. How does Conversational AI understand context?

Conversational AI uses natural language understanding and context tracking to maintain coherent and relevant dialogues.