Artificial intelligence is not a new concept. For millennia, people have been dreaming of artificially created human minds that live within the bodies of automata. From the brass giant, Talos, in Greek myths and legends, or the clay golem from Jewish folklore, to Isaac Asimov’s robots and Arthur C. Clarke’s super-computer, HAL 9000. AI is a fascinating subject and has been a dream for most human history. However, in the 20th century, it became closer to reality than ever. In the past couple of years, artificial intelligence reminiscent of that made up by science fiction authors has become a genuine possibility.
Many businesses already use AI to enhance their functionality and improve customer experience. For example, many people have noticed that customer support functions are almost entirely AI nowadays. Not only does this significantly speed up the process, but it also cuts down costs on the company’s side. Banks, financial firms, and organizations dealing with money use AI for fraud detection. Excellent news, especially considering that some believe the cost of cybercrime will rise to over $13 trillion by 2028. Finally, online casinos have been at the forefront of AI usage, as most digital games run on AI.
For those interested, online casinos can roughly be separated into two categories: AI and live dealers. Live dealer casinos use streaming technology to broadcast live human dealers to an audience of customers participating in the chat. On the other hand, AI dealers operate classic tabletop games digitally by using a randomizing algorithm that helps the system function. While most people associate AI dealers with online casinos, land-based casinos have also begun using them. Some land-based casinos feature robots equipped with AI. However, those are rare and unpopular—even casino players use AI to leverage the casino game and win more often.
The Pros of AI Dealers
Whenever a new technology explodes in popularity and takes over an industry, some wish to discuss the upsides and the downsides. AI is no exception to this ardent passion that humans have for arguments. People have debated the pros and cons of AI-driven casino games for years. We will look at some of the advantages first and then list some of the downsides as well.
The first of the pros that most people will bring up is that AI dealers are much quicker on the draw, resulting in faster and more dynamic gameplay. Live dealers often take their time dealing and may even get caught up in conversation with some players. With AI, this is impossible, as the machine cannot respond. It is programmed to shuffle the deck, deal out the cards, and draw new ones as necessary.
Another benefit that AI dealers bring to the table is consistency. Human dealers are, well, human. They can get tired and are prone to making mistakes, which could lead to arguments and more. However, that is different from AI dealers. Artificial intelligence is a program that does not make mistakes and can’t get fatigued. What you see is what you get with AI, and plenty of people prefer that over dealing with the possible errors of human dealers.
Finally, the most significant benefit of AI dealers is that they can handle several tables simultaneously, making them cost-effective for the website and improving its capacity. With human dealers, the capacity is only one per table. No matter how skilled they are, a human dealer at an online casino can’t handle more than one table. There would be too much information coming at them from all sides, and even if they could pull it off, they would get tired quickly and lose focus, which brings us back to human error. On the other hand, an AI could easily handle two, even three or more tables, without much problem.
The Cons of AI Dealers
We’ve discussed AI’s benefits and why some people prefer machine dealers. However, the popularity of live casinos run by human dealers speaks for itself. It seems that a large chunk of the online casino player base prefers to have a human element when gambling. That means that artificial intelligence lacks something only humans can provide. In this final section, we’d like to examine the drawbacks of AI dealers at online casinos.
The biggest downside of an AI dealer is self-evident. It is a fact that there is no human element. We said the AI will stay calm when chatting or conversing with the players, making for more dynamic and faster-paced gameplay. However, it also makes for a much colder environment, especially in casinos that don’t feature a player chat, where the participants can talk among each other. Humans are social creatures, and one of the most appealing aspects of casinos is that there are people all around you that you can talk to. AI-driven online casinos entirely do away with that element. While some may prefer it that way, others miss the human interaction of the classic, land-based casino.
Of course, there are also technical issues. Artificial intelligence, like any machine, can break down. Bugs, malfunctions, and other technical issues can disrupt gameplay and take the AI out for hours, maybe even days. An AI could be permanently removed from commission with the proper software engineer to fix the bug. Though admittedly, that only happens rarely.