Ever since the famous demo at the Google I/O developer’s conference in 2018, where an AI voice handled an appointment at a hairdresser’s, there has been a lot of controversy about whether that was a fake and if this could really have been done. Can AI-powered software accept a call, conduct a judgment-intensive conversation, handle the issue, and ensure resolution – all without human intervention?
The answer is yes. But it’s harder than it seems.
Technology
True conversational AI is artificial intelligence software that can engage in human-like dialogue, capturing context, and providing intelligent responses. This requires highly complex AI models coupled with lightning-fast speech recognition technology. The larger the size of the model, the longer the lag between a user’s question and the AI’s response. Gaps longer than just three-tenths of a second can sound unnatural. Avaamo’s massive, state-of-the-art language models can be rapidly trained and optimized to run inference in just a couple of milliseconds — thousandths of a second. This is a major stride toward ending the trade-off between an AI model that’s fast versus one that’s large and complex.
Customers
Visionary companies such as Penske are already implementing this approach in the real world. Penske is using Avaamo’s cutting-edge speech recognition and voice technology (Contact Center AI) to services thousands of customer calls, anticipating their requests, and proactively addressing their issues, reducing wait times as a result. Learn more about the public announcement from Penske themselves today.
The Future
This technology signals continuing disruption in the contact center where human agents (FTEs) do not need to be augmented but can be replaced using Avaamo’s technology, which is now powering tens of thousands of calls every day in healthcare, customer service, and many other areas, all without human intervention – offering ROI on the invested cost of the software within a few months.
