Can Artificial Intelligence (AI) Improve the Customer Experience? – Customer Think

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is hot. One breathless press release predicted that by 2025, 95% of all customer interactions will be powered by AI.

AI is not new. Its not just about bots for self-service. Or self-driving cars. In general usage it means the usage of advanced analytics more than process automation based on rules. Can include the processing of natural language (e.g. Alexa, Siri, Watson), decision making using complex algorithms, and machine learning where the algorithms get better over time.

Heres one definition from AlanTuring.net:

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is usually defined as the science of making computers do things that require intelligence when done by humans. AI has had some success in limited, or simplified, domains. However, the five decades since the inception of AI have brought only very slow progress, and early optimism concerning the attainment of human-level intelligence has given way to an appreciation of the profound difficulty of the problem.

And another from Wikipedia:

Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence exhibited by machines. In computer science, the field of AI research defines itself as the study of intelligent agents: any device that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its chance of success at some goal. Colloquially, the term artificial intelligence is applied when a machine mimics cognitive functions that humans associate with other human minds, such as learning and problem solving (known as Machine Learning).

IBM has been pushing Watson (of Jeopardy fame), Salesforce.com launched Einstein last year, and my inbox is full of press releases and briefing requests this year from vendors big and small, all touting AI.

My question is: Can AI improve the Customer Experience? Please answer yes or no and explain in the comments below. Examples appreciated!

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Can Artificial Intelligence (AI) Improve the Customer Experience? - Customer Think