**5. Focus on virtual assistants**

Virtual assistants can be considered the most conspicuous way in which AI has modernized so far – and can still upgrade – the financial system, adding to the human version of these assistants: as shown by the more and more intensive reliance on chatbots, they have attracted the attention of financial institutions, as well as of firms across a wide range of other economic sectors, and are being viewed as a key ingredient to create differentiation in today's increasingly crowded landscape; the underlying technology includes application programming interfaces that allow to analyze data, as well as web- and mobile-based user interfaces, and to deliver the necessary insights to the end customer. No wonder that forward-looking financial institutions have taken a leap of faith by investing in digital assistants to make "contextual insights" available to the right persons at the right time and through the preferred channels [10].

AI makes a huge difference between chatbots and virtual assistants who are typically self-employed workers specialized in providing administrative services to clients while operating outside their offices: these independent contractors usually work from a home office; access is granted to them to the necessary documents remotely, which acts as a stimulus to explore the potential of these assistants in the post-pandemic scenario. Since working from home has become more accepted for both workers and employers, the demand for skilled virtual assistants can be assumed to grow and new opportunities are surfacing for virtual assistants who are skilled in social media, content management, graphic design, blog writing, bookkeeping and web marketing [11].

To make a long story short, one of the advantages of hiring a virtual assistant is the flexibility to contract for just the services that each employer needs. Actually, this type of worker has become prominent, as small businesses and start-ups have embraced the trend to rely on virtual offices to keep costs low and firms of all sizes keep increasing their use of the Internet for their daily operations: being virtual assistants classified as self-employed workers, a company willing to take advantage of their services would not have to grant the same benefits it would be requested to provide its employees with; furthermore, since virtual assistants work offsite, they are expected to arrange and pay for their own toolkit (for instance, computer equipment, high-speed Internet connection and commonly used software programs) and it should not even be accounted for workspace, including a desk, at the company's office.

### **6. Digital assistants versus chatbots**

The trend towards increasing digitalization has allowed "intelligent" versions of virtual assistants – known as Intelligent Virtual Assistants, shortly IVAs – to proliferate: they can be defined as digital personal software-based agents that assist us in performing our daily activities and are conceived as being "similar to personal human assistants that, let's say, take down notes during a meeting, remind us to tend to our 'to-do-lists,' or read messages and emails sent to us" [12]; for instance, these virtual assistants can help us to control and manage smart devices, that have become essential to operate in the areas of remote banking. Going into a few technical specifications, IVAs consist of "advanced conversational solutions – equipped with NLU (Natural Language Understanding), NLG (Natural Language Generation), and Deep Learning, that enables them to understand and retain context and have more productive conversations with users" [13].

Even though both chatbots and IVAs are ripened fruits of AI, a clear-cut distinction needs to be made between them, as a precondition for implementing them wisely and especially for taking full advantage of the added value that each of them can provide: chatbots may simulate a conversational experience to a certain extent but are ultimately constrained by having to work off a limited script, as they lack the ability to learn over time and to adapt to context; on the other hand, IVAs have the advanced capabilities to truly serve "assistants" to customers and can emulate human interaction while carrying out a wide variety of tasks to fulfill a user's requirements. Therefore, these two AI applications cannot be confused as one, as it often happens.

To all intents and purposes, chatbots are generally used as information acquisition interfaces, for instance to extract product details, whereas IVAs can assist in conducting business: if you ask chatbots for virtual assistance – for instance, to remind you of meetings, to manage your to-do lists and to take down notes – they get confused and tend to search for clarification by keeping asking the same questions; anyway, chatbots play a crucial role in customer service, as customers can usefully interact with them to satisfy specific needs, for example to gain productrelated information or even book an appointment with the product manager. By contrast, IVAs utilize dynamic conversation flow techniques to "understand" human emotions, thus enriching communications with humans and hence covering a greater scope of action, which includes a wider range of tasks, such as those involving decision-making and e-commerce [14].
