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of the technology in customer service found that it |
increased the number of issues solved per hour by 14%, |
improved client sentiment, and reduced requests for |
managerial intervention. |
13 |
The most common customer servicerelated innovation |
is the creation of chatbots for either direct use by |
customers or company service agents. These tools |
represent not so much a new development as an |
evolution. At Betterment, for example, a chatbot based |
on predictive AI has already reduced the workload on |
our customer service team drastically, Mileham says, |
even before the integration of generative AI. That step |
is being considered carefully. |
The addition of generative AI elements to chatbots |
brings obvious benefits. These include interaction |
in natural language and the possible integration of |
potentially huge repositories of unstructured data into |
the tools knowledge base. Accordingly, Villanueva says |
that a generative AIbased chatbot is one of RCBCs |
leading digital priorities. Thats because it enables |
real-time quality customer service interactions and |
contributes to a seamless customer experience by |
facilitating the filing of complaints, accommodation of |
client requests, and collection of relevant customer data. |
RCBC is not alone. In May 2023, tech company Kasisto |
launched KAI-GPT, the first banking-specific LLM, |
and the initial program built to use KAI-GPT was KAI |
Answers, which aids employees in replying to customer |
queries. |
14 Meanwhile, various banks have announced |
development of generative AI-powered information |
tools for the direct use of customers or customer |
service agents. |
15 Similarly, Cowbell Insurance has |
launched MooGPT to provide answers to its customers |
and agents. |
16 Most of these tools appear designed |
to improve customer-employee interactions rather |
than replacing them, except in cases where the aim is |
providing basic information. |
This is intentional. Two considerations are at play. |
First, notes Mileham, any integration of generative AI |
into existing chatbots needs to be done safely. As of |
yet, its not like youre going to be putting a generative |
AI directly in front of customers and setting it free, |
he says. Second, some financial services firms have |
reported an increased need for human customer |
service staff. Weve seen people wanting more human |
interactions for retail transactions instead of fewer, |
says Villanueva. As a result, the Philippines-based |
As of yet, its not like youre going to be putting a |
generative AI directly in front of customers and |
setting it free. |
John Mileham, Chief Technology Officer, Betterment |
13 |
MIT Technology Review Insights |
banks generative AI chatbots are being designed to |
allow our talents to maximize their time and move |
toward more highly specified customer concerns that |
require more detailed and sensitive attention, he adds. |
Fraud prevention and risk management: For some |
years, financial services companies have been using |
advanced technologies, including predictive AI, to |
improve risk management and fraud prevention. |
Generative AI will allow the sector to go further, |
including through greater integration of unstructured |
data into these efforts. Chia says that using such |
information will allow companies to identify new |
patterns and anomalies with associated risks at both |
a micro levelsuch as the potential for an individual to |
defaultand a broader onesuch as market trends. |
More specifically, according to UBS research, reducing |
fraud is key for the payments industry in general. |
Visa and PayPal have both deployed generative AI to |
prevent fraudulent transactions by blocking suspicious |
ones. |
17 More generally, fintechs such as Datavisor, |
Feedzai, and Forter have all integrated generative AI |
into their off-the-shelf solutions to reduce payment |
fraud. |
18 At the same time, the new technology allows |
the sector to go beyond reinforcing existing anti-fraud |
defences, says Villanueva. He adds that RCBC is |
hoping to use it to engage customers more actively in |
fraud prevention, through more targeted and effective |
awareness and education campaigns. |
Coding: The financial services industry is, in many |
ways, a knowledge-based one. Michael Briest, head of |
European technology research at UBS, notes that as a |
sector, banks spend more as a percentage of revenues |
on IT than any other, and a lot of banks still do software |
design and maintenance in house. Accordingly, ways |
to improve the efficiency of such activities will interest |
companies. If properly trained, a generative AI tool can |
produce requested computer code as easily as others |
can answer questions or generate pictures. |
A leading U.S. bank has started using generative AI |
tools to help its code developers. |
19 It is not alone. |