🎙️ Voice is AI-generated. Inconsistencies may occur.
With the introduction of any new technology, there are always optimistic early adopters and naysayers — especially if the technology is transformational. Part of human thinking is to question change, from Fulton's steamboat called "Fulton's Folly" and the rampant questioning of the value of the internet in the '90s to today with generative AI. So, it is not unusual for optimistic people to get branded as naïve, unrealistic, or overly wishful. AI optimists receive the same sentiment. The issue with this view of AI optimism is that it is largely a strawman.
In truth, AI optimists are not willfully unaware of or unconcerned with the real challenges and risks associated with the latest advancements in technology, like generative AI. Instead, these optimists are simply more excited about the future benefits than paralyzed with fear of the potential downsides.
In the customer service environment, for example, generative AI can drive a richer consumer experience, reduce hold times, and decrease labor costs. In other fields, AI is helping increase the effectiveness of breast cancer screening and even aiding investigators in combating money laundering. Indeed, many see AI as an invaluable force for good if deployed responsibly and intelligently.
Why Be Optimistic?
As the pace of work continues to accelerate, AI-powered automation might soon be indispensable to the modern worker. Today, employees must stay up to date on endless emails and different business communication platforms while maintaining productivity and meeting deadlines. A survey from Microsoft found nearly two in three people, or 64% of participants, said they struggle with finding the time and energy to do their job, making innovation and strategic thinking a challenge.
This increased pace of work is also a byproduct and outgrowth of ever-increasing customer expectations. In fact, there is a vicious cycle today where, because of the incredible innovations from technologies like ChatGPT, customers assume that service should continue to get faster and more efficient. Though this sentiment among consumers is understandable, the pressure has been intense for employees — especially customer service representatives.
Consequently, AI optimists are the most prepared for future consumer demands. By readily incorporating new AI technologies into the customer service environment, businesses can empower their workforce to reclaim more of their time through automation, allowing employees to focus on other value-added tasks.
AI Optimism Is Growing
Much of the fear surrounding AI tends to dissipate as people learn about the technology and how it can improve their work. Like autonomous cars (or even parking assist and reversing cameras), there is skepticism among drivers, but as they use said technology, the more they see how it can enhance their driving experience. To that end, a Boston Consulting Group (BCG) survey discovered that regular users of generative AI were much more optimistic than non-users.
Nevertheless, the BCG survey also reports that the perceptions of AI between business leaders and frontline employees vary significantly, with the former being more enthusiastic than the latter. Leaders must recognize this gap and work to increase user acceptance, ensuring their teams share the same AI optimism. BCG also points out that employees understand the importance of training and upskilling when it comes to AI, and companies must accommodate their needs accordingly.
Overcoming AI Challenges
While anticipating future benefits, an AI optimist can strive to minimize potential risks and avoid the dangers of poor deployments. In particular, there are four areas that an AI optimist should consider when integrating generative AI into their customer service environment: accuracy, quality, privacy, and compliance.
• Accuracy: AI solutions can sometimes generate outdated or incorrect content, damaging the customer experience and, in some use cases, causing legal consequences. However, organizations can reduce and eventually eliminate these errors by training and routinely updating AI and implementing robust governors and guardrails.
• Quality: AI-enabled customer service bots can encounter quality issues without proper context. For example, if it lacks data, its responses can misalign with the customer's needs. Brands can refine their AI through customer profiles and prompt engineers who can fine-tune large language models (LLM) over time to deliver more personalized and curated responses to customer inquiries.
• Privacy: Because generative AI leverages customer information, including purchase history, survey feedback, disclosed demographics, etc., there is a danger of data leakage where the solution accidentally discloses confidential information. As such, AI optimists can, for example, anonymize or pseudonymize customer data when training their models.
• Compliance: Improper AI deployments can jeopardize a company's adherence to regulations like PCI or HIPAA. Businesses must ensure their solutions and practices align with all pertinent AI regulations.
The Winners of the New AI Era
The adoption of generative AI is accelerating, especially in the customer service setting where it is replacing conversational AI and reducing the number of contact center agents required.
AI optimists should treat this transition as an ongoing journey to achieve more automation with AI, rather than a mere five-minute software update. In fact, true optimists recognize the risks and solve them ahead of time to help foster a sense of trust with this ever-evolving technology. Contact centers, like employees, need to maximize the vast potential of AI. Ultimately, the leaders of this new AI era can be those optimists who approach their deployments with equal amounts of excitement, persuasion, and patience