Humans are willing to trust chatbots with some of their most sensitive information
The "Humanity in the Machine" report -published by media agency Mindshare UK on Thursday - urges brands to engage with customers through chatbots, which can be defined as artificial intelligence programmes that conduct conversations with humans through chat interfaces.
In conjunction with Goldsmiths University and experts at the likes of IBM, Mindshare UK observed how consumers use chatbots when making a banking transaction. It also surveyed 1,000 UK smartphone users aged 18-65 on their attitudes towards chatbots.
The study found that 63% of people would consider messaging an online chatbot to get in touch with a business or brand.
Website and app chatbots can help customers with things like forgotten passwords and transactions. Companies can also use them to push promotions and adverts at people. However, chatbots can become confused when they're asked a slightly complicated question that a human would be able to understand. Of those surveyed, 79% agreed that they'd need to know a human could step in if they asked to speak to someone.
Companies like Standard Life, a long-term savings and investment business, and Bank of America are already thinking about how they can use automated chatbots to answer customer queries.
Jeremy Pounder, futures director at Mindshare, said in a statement: