Website builder company Wix recently announced the release of a new conversational artificial intelligence (AI) chat experience that helps businesses get their new sites up and running.

The company says the chat feature, which it describes as "human-like," greets users when they join Wix to get their business online and actively collects information about the user’s business through dynamic questions and tailored follow-up questions specific to their business intent. The result, according to the company, is that users get tailored components that are essential for their specific business.

With the tool, the user engages in an "in-depth" dialogue with the AI chat feature. They receive follow-up questions based on their previous answers, and the AI chat then provides recommendations for components to construct an online business profile, website templates, commerce tools, other applications, images, tone preferences, text, etc. If you give it more details, you are more likely to get a greater amount of personalization in the final results.

"For example, the AI chat will ask a user about their target audience and create some sample blog posts for them," Wix explains. "The AI conversation continues until all necessary information is collected."

Wix will build a business profile that categorizes and organizes all applications, and when the conversation is concluded, users will be pointed toward a dashboard personalized specifically for their own business. From there, they can manage components and further personalize/adjust tools and design as needed before making the site live.

"This new AI technology serves as an excellent starting point for creating a business profile by eliminating the need for users to manually understand which components they need to run their business online," says Guy Sopher, Head of AI Assistant at Wix. "In the early days of its availability, it is clear that this new AI product removes a great deal of friction for business users as they build and manage their online presence. This is the first step to completely automating business management with AI, and opens the door for users to have a unique and personalized experience to set up a business even better and stronger than before."

While AI has really taken off in a big way over the past year or so, Wix is not exactly new to the technology. The company has been dealing with it for at least the past seven years. Back in 2016, Wix introduced its Artificial Design Intelligence website generator. In the ensuing years, it has continued to expand on its initial offerings, enabling businesses to take advantage of some of the benefits AI has to offer.

Other AI-powered features currently offered by Wix include: AI Text Creator, AI Template Text Creator, Alternative Layouts, AI Image Creator, Auto Background Removal, Auto Enhance, Auto-Generated Trailer, Product Descriptions, Product Recommendations, and AI Domain Generator. On the horizon are: AI Site Generator, AI Page and Section Creator, Object Eraser, and AI Assistant for managing your business.

2023 was a huge year for AI, and the coming year promises to be a fascinating one across nearly all aspects of business as Wix and many other companies provide additional tools that small businesses can take advantage of.