18.7.2023
Andreas Klug, Frontnow's AI expert, firmly believes that AI will foster improved relationships between machines and people. As customer centricity and automation continue to converge at a rapid pace, he provides insight on what we can expect from this fast-paced development.
Andreas Klug
Guest Author & AI Expert
"We are currently experiencing a historic moment in artificial intelligence: for the first time, computers are truly speaking our language, and we no longer have to learn the language of computers in order to understand or guide them," said former Bitkom President, Achim Berg.
Will artificial intelligence (AI) be the technology of 2023, as Achim Berg predicted in mid-March? Berg speaks in superlatives: "In the coming years, AI will change the world more than a major innovation such as the smartphone has done."
This much is clear: I appreciate Berg's perspective. Indeed, AI ensures that humans and machines understand each other better. Or, as I predicted in an interview with Bitkom back in 2019, "AI will lead to better relationships between machines and humans."
But as we all know, German companies are, unfortunately, not exactly renowned for their innovative vigor or boldness in adopting new technologies. In the past five years, numerous "hypes" have come and gone. This time, however, something appears different: ever since OpenAI made beta versions of their new language model readily available for use with ChatGPT #3 and #4, barriers seem to have been shattered
Influencers, executives, and everyday people alike are brimming with enthusiasm for the revolutionary intelligent conversation machine. Previous household helpers such as Siri, Alexa and the likes, seem to pale in comparison. Finally, we are introduced to a machine that not only provides intelligent but also contextually fitting responses. From drafting essays to generating code - this machine doesn't stop there, it's also remarkably approachable.
As a result, people's reservations about AI are diminishing. In many communities and podcasts that have pretty much nothing to do with IT and AI, intelligent machines have become a sudden topic. Recently, I was even interviewed by a group of cat enthusiasts. Even if I could only build bridges from AI to animal care to a limited extent, AI has evidently made its way into German households. It appears to have also found its place in many executive suites, which is bitterly necessary.
Honestly, ChatGPT is a significant step towards dialogic AI, which we have referred to as "GAI" or "general artificial intelligence" for a few years now. The quality of the language model surprises me. To the notorious skeptics who criticize inaccuracies in the ChatGPT model, I emphatically state: "Developing the language model is a mammoth task. Accuracy is still at a comparatively early stage and will improve over time."
However, to believe that a large proportion of the estimated 300,000 employees in call and contact centers will now be replaced by ChatGPT in the short term, is plainly naive. Nevertheless, consumers appear to be a step ahead. They seem to believe that machines have long taken over the marketing and service responsibilities of major brands.
According to a representative survey by the digital association Bitkom, more than half of the surveyed customers believe that a large number of German companies already rely on intelligent machines and automated emails for service requests or complaints. Over three-quarters are convinced that many companies utilize AI for personalized advertising and campaigns. The reality doesn't surprise me – in practice, only a fraction of the surveyed companies are currently using AI in the aforementioned application areas. Despite the known benefits of AI support, they have simply been overlooked.
I was, for many years (and still see myself as), an evangelist for the use of artificial intelligence. As early as 2005, we could accurately identify customer service intentions and desires – intent recognition – in emails, among other things, and derive priorities and potential solutions. By 2007, we had significantly refined this process. With the current glaring shortage of skilled workers afflicting the industry, introducing AI into the workplace offers an opportunity to dramatically increase productivity.
Capturing service messages, sorting, searching, and researching – all these cognitive tasks that employees in contact centers and back office teams perform manually today – can be automated by AI-supported solutions.
Only those who understand the intention (intent) and the pertinent transaction data in the individual customer transaction (context) by machine are capable of automating the service.
Companies that fully develop their service dialogs in terms of content can automate communication with their customers. However, anyone who interprets the supportive use of „thinking” machines in the workplace purely as a „job killer” may overlook the effects on productivity and customer centricity.
In the conversational business of the future, consumers will have the ability to manage their service issues in real time, providing the utmost convenience. This will eliminate the need for customer portals, which currently face low customer adoption due to their lack of convenience, as well as proprietary enterprise applications.
Mobile first: Through automatically generated QR codes or intelligent auto-replies, inquiring customers and prospects will be guided into application tracks. Intelligent, personal, and simple. The advanced AI identifies the missing details or certificates and gathers them directly by interacting with the inquiring customers.
No ChatGPT language model is needed to mechanize the numerous manual steps and media changes. Solutions based on self-learning machine learning (ML) models are already delighting customers with "instantness" – a term coined back in 2007 by futurologist Peter Glaser to describe customer impatience in the digital age.
Considering the significant contribution of cognitive value as seen in Germany's leading industries, the emphasis should be on sensible service ideas and viewing things through "customer lenses". With the use of today's omnichannel service solutions, customers can be serviced quickly and effortlessly.
I wonder what ChatGPT's opinion is on this topic. Let me ask.
"We are currently experiencing a historic moment in artificial intelligence: for the first time, computers are truly speaking our language, and we no longer have to learn the language of computers in order to understand or guide them," said former Bitkom President, Achim Berg.
Will artificial intelligence (AI) be the technology of 2023, as Achim Berg predicted in mid-March? Berg speaks in superlatives: "In the coming years, AI will change the world more than a major innovation such as the smartphone has done."
This much is clear: I appreciate Berg's perspective. Indeed, AI ensures that humans and machines understand each other better. Or, as I predicted in an interview with Bitkom back in 2019, "AI will lead to better relationships between machines and humans."
But as we all know, German companies are, unfortunately, not exactly renowned for their innovative vigor or boldness in adopting new technologies. In the past five years, numerous "hypes" have come and gone. This time, however, something appears different: ever since OpenAI made beta versions of their new language model readily available for use with ChatGPT #3 and #4, barriers seem to have been shattered
Influencers, executives, and everyday people alike are brimming with enthusiasm for the revolutionary intelligent conversation machine. Previous household helpers such as Siri, Alexa and the likes, seem to pale in comparison. Finally, we are introduced to a machine that not only provides intelligent but also contextually fitting responses. From drafting essays to generating code - this machine doesn't stop there, it's also remarkably approachable.
As a result, people's reservations about AI are diminishing. In many communities and podcasts that have pretty much nothing to do with IT and AI, intelligent machines have become a sudden topic. Recently, I was even interviewed by a group of cat enthusiasts. Even if I could only build bridges from AI to animal care to a limited extent, AI has evidently made its way into German households. It appears to have also found its place in many executive suites, which is bitterly necessary.
Honestly, ChatGPT is a significant step towards dialogic AI, which we have referred to as "GAI" or "general artificial intelligence" for a few years now. The quality of the language model surprises me. To the notorious skeptics who criticize inaccuracies in the ChatGPT model, I emphatically state: "Developing the language model is a mammoth task. Accuracy is still at a comparatively early stage and will improve over time."
However, to believe that a large proportion of the estimated 300,000 employees in call and contact centers will now be replaced by ChatGPT in the short term, is plainly naive. Nevertheless, consumers appear to be a step ahead. They seem to believe that machines have long taken over the marketing and service responsibilities of major brands.
According to a representative survey by the digital association Bitkom, more than half of the surveyed customers believe that a large number of German companies already rely on intelligent machines and automated emails for service requests or complaints. Over three-quarters are convinced that many companies utilize AI for personalized advertising and campaigns. The reality doesn't surprise me – in practice, only a fraction of the surveyed companies are currently using AI in the aforementioned application areas. Despite the known benefits of AI support, they have simply been overlooked.
I was, for many years (and still see myself as), an evangelist for the use of artificial intelligence. As early as 2005, we could accurately identify customer service intentions and desires – intent recognition – in emails, among other things, and derive priorities and potential solutions. By 2007, we had significantly refined this process. With the current glaring shortage of skilled workers afflicting the industry, introducing AI into the workplace offers an opportunity to dramatically increase productivity.
Capturing service messages, sorting, searching, and researching – all these cognitive tasks that employees in contact centers and back office teams perform manually today – can be automated by AI-supported solutions.
Only those who understand the intention (intent) and the pertinent transaction data in the individual customer transaction (context) by machine are capable of automating the service.
Companies that fully develop their service dialogs in terms of content can automate communication with their customers. However, anyone who interprets the supportive use of „thinking” machines in the workplace purely as a „job killer” may overlook the effects on productivity and customer centricity.
In the conversational business of the future, consumers will have the ability to manage their service issues in real time, providing the utmost convenience. This will eliminate the need for customer portals, which currently face low customer adoption due to their lack of convenience, as well as proprietary enterprise applications.
Mobile first: Through automatically generated QR codes or intelligent auto-replies, inquiring customers and prospects will be guided into application tracks. Intelligent, personal, and simple. The advanced AI identifies the missing details or certificates and gathers them directly by interacting with the inquiring customers.
No ChatGPT language model is needed to mechanize the numerous manual steps and media changes. Solutions based on self-learning machine learning (ML) models are already delighting customers with "instantness" – a term coined back in 2007 by futurologist Peter Glaser to describe customer impatience in the digital age.
Considering the significant contribution of cognitive value as seen in Germany's leading industries, the emphasis should be on sensible service ideas and viewing things through "customer lenses". With the use of today's omnichannel service solutions, customers can be serviced quickly and effortlessly.
I wonder what ChatGPT's opinion is on this topic. Let me ask.
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