Artificial Intelligence Brings Empathy and Linguistics to Customer Service

Posted: 01/04/2021 - 22:51
When artificial intelligence (AI) was first introduced in customer service, it was limited to basic chatbot features. Recent advancements are now bringing a sense of empathy and linguistics to AI agents.

When artificial intelligence (AI) was first introduced in customer service, it was limited to basic chatbot features. Recent advancements are now bringing a sense of empathy and linguistics to AI agents.

Currently being tested by banks in the Middle East, this new AI can detect anger, frustration, and other human emotions both over the phone and online. Impressively, most customers can’t even detect that the voice on the other end of the line is not human.

The technology was developed by the fintech startup Flaist and is now being tested by VISA as well as Mashreq Bank.

How AI Customer Service Feels and Reacts

This AI learns and adapts to each customer by accessing the bank’s vast customer database where previous customer interactions are stored.

For instance, whether you're calling from Texas, Long Island, India, or the UK, the AI voice can detect regional accents and reply with the same familiar accent over the phone. Across Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, it's very difficult to identify cultural dialects and regional accents.

You may speak the same language in one country, but the way customers want to be treated will dictate if the customer is pleased or unhappy at the end of the call. This new technology is helping to address the cultural divide between countries where understanding and communication in various dialects and accents is crucial to building relationships.

Another interesting feature of this technology is its ability to detect which gender a customer is more comfortable speaking with and respond in that preferred gender’s voice. This ultimately creates a more personalized banking experience.

Let's imagine a married couple has a joint banking account. On the other end of the line, the husband and wife each prefer to talk to someone of their own sex. AI would automatically give a male voice to the husband in this situation and a female voice to the wife, making them believe their customer service is more tailored.

What Makes This Technology Unique?

This AI technology employs “plug and play,” which provides a quick and easy integration to online services such as websites, apps and social media. On top of this, the technology provides banks new opportunities to sell pre-existing services while cutting IT costs up to 25%.

The AI would then attract and retain by bringing new customer services on the basis of the customer's concerns. For example, if the bank knows a customer is a business client, the AI will provide advice on loans from the Small Business Administration. If the customer has bad credit, the AI will inform the customer of their current financial status and offer measures to boost their credit score.

This technology is also able to be integrated and rebranded under any bank’s name, allowing it to be customizable to their mobile apps, online chat services, and platforms such as Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and WeChat.

A Revolutionary Digital Transformation

This new artificial intelligence platform is ultimately helping to level the playing field within the financial industry.

In the past, smaller financial institutions, such as credit unions, community banks and regional banks, couldn’t access top AI technology due to limited budgets. As a result, they struggled to compete with larger multinational financial institutions who could readily adopt the latest technology and innovations.

This new AI technology is democratizing the digital transformation process, providing financial institutions, regardless of size and capital, the ability to offer quality customer service interactions.

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About The Author

Krish Gopalan's picture

Krish Gopalan is the founder of the AI-powered digital experience platform Flaist. He has over 15 years of experience in the technology industry. He has helped to build enterprise for multiple startups and multi-billion-dollar organizations, including Citibank, Mastercard, HPE, ArcSight and Oracle. With Flaist, Gopalan has launched EVA, a virtual-assistant with unique human-like capabilities that is bringing empathy and personalized customer service through AI to the financial industry.