One of the sectors that has benefited immensely from Generative AI is customer support and experience.
With the use of more intelligent AI-powered assistants on websites and other channels, businesses have been able to reduce customer support workloads and improve customer satisfaction.
In this article, I discuss the past and present state of customer support using AI assistants and agents.
I also provide tips and techniques on how businesses can fully leverage this advanced intelligence to save time and money.
The Current State of Play
Before the boom of Generative AI in 2022, AI assistants were already available in different forms. However, the challenge with those chatbots was that they were powered by weak AI algorithms. By weak AI, I mean intelligence that relies heavily on logic and guided conversations.
- Typically, when a customer engages with such chatbots, the next possible actions are displayed for them to choose from, and so on. While this approach worked well at the time, things have evolved rapidly with the democratization of large language models, which now allow users to have human-like, unguided conversations with chatbots.
- In November 2022, OpenAI launched ChatGPT, which utilized a large language model to power conversations with users. This introduced a new level of intelligence and capabilities such as text summarization, content generation, and language translation—all out of the box. Today, conversing with a chatbot feels more natural and fulfilling. Customers can describe their problems in detail and receive more intelligent responses from these AI-powered assistants.
- Additionally, with features like tooling and function calls, these AI assistants can interact with external systems via APIs and perform tasks on behalf of the customer.
With the introduction of advanced voice mode, customers can now engage in real-time, voice-to-voice conversations with AI assistants, significantly reducing the need for human agents in many use cases.
Taking Full Advantage
For businesses to fully harness the potential of Generative AI assistants in their customer support teams, they must adopt strategic implementation approaches when deploying AI solutions.
- Most businesses already offer multiple support channels to their customers for ease of access—such as CRMs, WhatsApp, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), and Facebook. By integrating an AI assistant as the first responder across these channels, the customer support team can focus on critical situations while routine queries are handled autonomously. These integrations can be achieved through webhooks and APIs.
- With this approach, AI assistants can manage knowledge-based queries and basic support services, while escalating complex issues to human agents when necessary. This reduces customer support workload by up to 60%, saving both time and money. Additionally, businesses can now provide 24/7 customer support without requiring human agents at all times.
While implementing AI assistants, it’s essential to follow ethical guidelines and best practices for responsible AI deployment.
Good luck, and Happy AI Transformation!
