Definition
Conversational AI — Conversational AI is technology that can understand and generate natural human dialogue, tracking context across multiple turns of a conversation rather than responding to each message as if it were the first. It combines language understanding, figuring out what a person actually means, with response generation, producing a reply that fits both the immediate question and what's already been said earlier in the exchange. The term applies to both text-based systems, like a chat interface, and voice-based systems, where the same underlying capability handles spoken input and output instead of typed text. What distinguishes it from older rule-based chatbots is the ability to handle open-ended input and follow up on it, rather than only responding to a fixed list of anticipated phrases.
Conversational AI shows up anywhere a system needs to hold a real exchange instead of presenting a static form: customer support, virtual assistants, and increasingly, interviews.
In hiring specifically, conversational AI is what allows an AI interview to ask a genuine follow-up question based on what a candidate just said, rather than working through a fixed script regardless of the answer given, which is the core difference between a conversational AI interview and a static recorded video interview.
Frequently asked questions
Is conversational AI the same thing as a chatbot?
A chatbot is one common application of conversational AI, but the category also covers voice-based systems and more complex assistants. Older rule-based chatbots that only match fixed phrases aren't true conversational AI, since they can't handle open-ended input.
How is conversational AI used in interviews?
It lets an AI-conducted interview ask questions, understand a candidate's actual answer, and generate a relevant follow-up in real time, rather than working through a fixed list of questions regardless of what the candidate said.
Does conversational AI require voice, or can it be text-only?
Either. Conversational AI covers both spoken and written exchanges. Voice AI specifically refers to the spoken form, which adds speech recognition and speech generation on top of the same underlying conversational capability.
Related pages
Talk through a real conversational AI interview
Intervieux runs AI interviews as genuine back-and-forth conversations, following up on real answers instead of playing through a fixed script.