AI customer support means using an AI assistant to answer customers' questions, usually in a chat on your website or in messaging apps. Modern assistants write their own replies in natural language, instead of following the rigid scripts of older chatbots.
How it works
You give the assistant your business information: website pages, documents, FAQs and notes. When a customer asks a question, the system finds the relevant parts of that information and an AI model writes an answer from them, in the customer's language.
This approach is often called retrieval-augmented generation. For a business owner, what matters is that the answers come from your information, not from the internet.
What it does well
Answering routine questions instantly, at any hour. Replying in many languages. Capturing contact details from interested customers. Handling many conversations at once without a queue.
What it should not do
Give medical, legal or financial advice, make promises you did not authorise, handle complaints alone, or invent answers. A good system passes these to your team.
How it differs from old chatbots
Old chatbots offered menus of buttons and broke as soon as a customer typed something unexpected. AI assistants understand free text, typos and mixed languages, and they can be set up from information you already have.
How to start
Pick one channel, usually your website. Give the assistant your most important information, test it with real questions, and put it live. Selo Assist has a free plan so you can try it on your own site first.
