Swiftchat.ai: Driving the Evolution from Play Store to Bot Store, Propelling the World Towards Conversational AI

CXOToday has engaged in an exclusive interview with Shikhar Gupta, Chief Product Officer, Swiftchat.ai by ConveGenius Group

1. What was the driving idea behind launching SwiftChat as a platform?

The idea behind launching SwiftChat as a platform was to bridge the gap between technology and people. It was to ensure that everyone, irrespective of their digital comfort, can access and benefit from advanced technologies, and hence every time we come up with new features to build on the platform, we take a subtraction approach – less is more. Often new technologies are designed to cater to those who are internet-savvy and tech-savvy, while ignoring a significant part of the population that struggles with complex user interfaces (UI) and user experiences (UX) in multiple apps.

Our belief is that technology, especially that which influences something as fundamental as education, should be as simple as possible, sustainable, and scalable to enable broader access. This thought process led us to embrace chat as a user experience – a format that is already ubiquitous in India, especially through platforms like WhatsApp. The chat-based interface of SwiftChat makes it easy to grasp and simple to use, essentially offering a ‘plus one’ experience to familiar chat apps.

By simplifying technology, we’re hoping to enable and empower millions of people across India and reduce information poverty in the country. Our aim with SwiftChat is to deliver advanced technology that feels simple, intuitive, and universally accessible, thereby genuinely democratising access.

2. What specific purpose does SwiftChat aim to solve in the communication landscape?

SwiftChat aims to solve key communication challenges in the education landscape by providing a platform for the creation, deployment, and management of omnichannel chatbots. The biggest challenge in the education landscape is that required data and content is not available to the stakeholders at the right time which impedes the implementation of various well intentioned policies. Whether it be children learning outcomes, attendance, assessments, data and information are either delayed, disaggregated, incomplete or incorrect.

SwiftChat through our conversational AI bots aims to deliver Right information, Right data, and Right content to the Right user at the Right time. For example, our Shikshak Sahayak bot provides learning outcome mapped lesson plans, worksheets, and remedial videos to teachers whenever they require it. Another example would be our Report Generation bot that provides holistic reports of participation and performance of students to various stakeholders across the hierarchy in just a single conversation. Another example would be our video library, which can be used by students or teachers to get vetted video content on any topic they want to further study about.

The essential part of this is that all above different use cases mentioned have the same UI and UX for the end user.

3. Could you explain how SwiftChat’s proprietary technology leverages AI and ML to enhance its functionalities?

At ConveGenius, we have always believed in the power of nudged learning where multiple data points on assessment, learning, and user behaviour come together to nudge the user forward without losing the human touch. SwiftChat uses ML and Generative AI to improve both the quality and quantity of those nudges.

AI and ML are used to understand and respond to user interactions in a human like conversation, provide personalized learning experiences, and adapt to the user’s learning progress over time. And with more advanced Language Learning Models (LLMs), it will become more accurate, personalised, and human-like in the coming future. The idea is to eventually provide a guided personal assistant to students for learning, teachers for administration and teaching, and other stakeholders for better governance of learning infrastructure of the country.

In Bharat, EdTech will continue to be a UX layer (that provides context, capacity, and creativity) above generative AI. And if this UX layer is enabled with Natural Language Processing (NLP) and has rich Machine Learning (ML) data, EdTech can prompt generative AI to create meaningful learning experiences. Thus, SwiftChat will use Generative AI as a source of information but build the guardrail, which is the EdTech layer, to provide context, capacity and creativity for the user.

Some examples of how SwiftChat uses and/or plans to leverage Generative AI:

1. NLP-enabled search engines – A user can get answers to queries and doubts on key subjects. Example: Swift Physics bot.
2. Generate tailored content – EdTech can throw a couple of questions that a user could not answer to generative AI and get recommendations for the follow-up question to be asked. For Image based questions – AI can process an image, and create a free-flow conversation via QnA with the user.
3. Instant feedback – A user can copy and paste an answer to a numerical problem and AI can evaluate it for instant feedback. Example: Bot Under development
4. Learning English – A user can practise writing and speaking in a simulated real-like conversation – We are experimenting with Audio and Video Avatars of teachers to make this experiential. Example: Learn English bot coming soon.
5. Generate study resources & curriculum development – Saving time and resources for our internal academic teams. Example- Content on Shikshak Sahayak bot
6. Personalised and Adaptive Learning – Analyse assessment and behavioural data to personalise the learning experience and adapt the user journey with self-paced remedial modules to bridge any existing learning gaps. Example: Personalised and Adaptive Learning bot.
7. Utilities – A user can use it for utilities such as resume-building, and note-taking automation.
8. What is the vision for SwiftChat? How do you see the platform evolving and growing in the coming years?

The vision for SwiftChat is to become the world’s largest bot store, integrating seamlessly into users’ daily lives. In the coming years, SwiftChat aims to become the ‘UPI’ of education in India, where learning, teaching, assessments, and governance are integrated and easily accessible. We aim to expand our geographic footprint across India, Vietnam, Singapore, Indonesia, and the Middle East.

I see the platform evolving beyond the education sector with partners being able to develop, launch, and manage their bots on the SwiftChat platform. We are dedicated to cultivating a pool of SwiftChat-certified developers and channel partners. This initiative will accelerate the growth of the bot ecosystem and facilitate a digital infra-play at a population scale, further enhancing SwiftChat’s influence in the market.

4. How do chatbots contribute to the SwiftChat platform? What role do they play in enhancing user experience?

Chatbots are the most crucial component of the SwiftChat platform, as they are the primary medium of interaction and engagement with users. They deliver personalised and adaptive learning experiences, provide various educational and administrative services, and encourage interaction and dialogue.

Chatbots simplify the user experience in two ways –

• With different chatbots for different use cases, it saves the user time as the chatbot provides them with exactly what they want in just a single conversation.
• With all use cases having a chatbot UX, it enables the user to access a wide variety of services without having to learn new tech for them.

5. Can you share some information about the prominent chatbots available on SwiftChat and which chatbot is most commonly used by the users?

Teachers use the below bots:

Smart Attendance bot

Teaching Assistant Bot

Exam score digitisation

Qualitative surveys of students

Students use the below bots:

Weekly Practice bots

Maths Practice Bot

Video Library Bot

Spelling Bee bot

6. I understand SwiftChat recently partnered with Google and Doubtnut. Could you provide some details about these partnerships and their significance for SwiftChat?

Our collaborations with Google and Doubtnut are significant steps in our mission to bridge the gap between technology and people by delivering simple and meaningful technology on a large scale. Through these partnerships, students and users in remotest parts of India, will be able to access their tools in the form of a chatbot, which is easy and simple to use.

Our partnership with Google saw the introduction of Read Along, a speech-based reading tool on the SwiftChat platform in the form of a bot. SwiftChat’s Read Along bot assists early learners in the age group of 5-11 years to learn and improve their reading skills at their own pace. The bot supports over 1000 illustrations in 13 Indian languages.

Our partnership with Doubtnut, saw the introduction of the Doubtnut bot on SwiftChat Platform. Using the Doubtnut bot, students can resolve their doubts instantly on various topics such as Maths, Physics, Chemistry among others in both English and vernacular languages. The student just needs to click a picture of the problem on the bot, and the bot will use machine learning and image recognition tools to decode and provide answers through short videos.

7. Are there any upcoming partnerships or collaborations that SwiftChat has planned or is currently working on?

SwiftChat has various exciting upcoming partnerships, especially in the space of Ed Tech. Some of them are:

1. upsurge – Financial literacy for children
2. Kutuki – Preschool learning
3. Campus365 – Automating value chains in organizations
4. TicTacLearn – Animated and engaging content in Maths and Science
5. LightHouse Communities – Vocational skills, employment, and entrepreneurship
6. PAL – Personalized and Adaptive learning journeys in the form of chatbot
7. English learning Bot

8. What are the expansion plans for SwiftChat? Are there any specific regions or markets that the platform aims to target in the future?

SwiftChat has an ambitious expansion strategy. Geographically, the platform aims to extend its reach into more than 25 states in India, solidifying its presence across the country. Furthermore, SwiftChat intends to expand its influence beyond India, targeting four other regions for growth: Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia, and the Middle East. This expansion will enable SwiftChat to offer its innovative conversational AI solutions to a global audience.

With over 100 bots already available on the SwiftChat platform, the brand is dedicated to further enhancing and expanding its range of conversational AI bots and shaping ‘SwiftChat’ into the world’s largest bot store.

Furthermore, SwiftChat has set an ambitious target to grow its user base to 100 million by FY25. To achieve this, the brand will focus on doubling the bot-to-device ratio for SwiftChat users, a critical retention metric.

Technologically, SwiftChat is focused on establishing strong network effects within its platform. By encouraging users to consume additional bots beyond their initial selection, the brand aims to drive increased engagement and retention.

Concurrently, SwiftChat is dedicated to cultivating a pool of SwiftChat-certified developers and channel partners. This initiative aims to accelerate the growth of the bot ecosystem and facilitate a digital infra-play at a population scale, further enhancing SwiftChat’s influence in the market.