The primary factor driving organisational hesitancy of AI adoption for customer support is fear. It is unsurprising given that brand reputation, trust, and compliance are on the line. A wrong answer or incorrect advice has the potential to damage reputation, destroy loyalty and trigger financial penalties. 

When humans make a mistake, we deem the ‘human error’ to be understandable. Trust is not irreparably damaged. When technology makes a mistake we deem it unforgivable. We feel duped because we’re sold the promise that technology is efficient, consistent and precise. 

Just as humans aren’t perfect, neither is technology. AI does have fallibilities. However, when AI is correctly architected into a conversational AI solution, its accuracy is highly exceptional. And with the correct measures in place consistency and predictability will be as near to perfection as is possible. 

Humans as a critical AI feature

Humans are the key to deploying conversational AI solutions that ensure reputation, loyalty and compliance are not compromised. Having humans involved at each stage of the content process provides the safeguard for content accuracy, consistency and reliability. 

Humans should be employed as the curators, designers and trainers for all aspects of the content: curation, workflow designs, escalation paths, response auditing, and response refinement and updating. At Creative Virtual our team or knowledgebase engineers, designers and curators are involved throughout the conversational AI design, deployment and maintenance phases, giving organisations confidence that the solution will deliver the highest levels of support to their customers:

  • Organisations know where answers come from
  • There is full transparency
  • The most recent documents and policies are used
  • Content is vetted
  • Human-curated content

Inbuilt Guardrails

Mitigating the known reputational and financial risks of the early AI deployments is possible when guardrails are embedded in the design of the conversational AI solution. Having smart guardrails wrapped around the AI solution dramatically reduces risk; keeping AI within boundaries set by an organisation. Controls are in place that ensure:

  • Answers only come from approved sources
  • Filters and compliance are set at approved levels
  • Responses are monitored to ensure tone, accuracy, consistency
  • Out of scope queries and questions are set to a refuse to answer setting 

The misgivings organisations have about AI giving wrong answers, being inconsistent in responses, or interacting in a way that doesn’t align to their brand or is not compliant with policies or regulation should no longer be cause for concern. All can be addressed with the use of guardrails. 

Predictable and safe AI

Organisations wanting to deliver fast, efficient, and effective customer support should not delay. The benefits to both customers and the organisation are tangible. Confidence in your AI solution will come from confidence in your conversational AI provider. 

When deciding who to partner with to design and deliver your conversational AI solution the key factors to consider include:

  • Are guardrails part and parcel of the solution design and embedded in the conversational AI platform
  • Is there full transparency of content, data and analytics
  • Does your provider insist on clean, curated knowledge 
  • Is human support and intervention available at every stage of the solution design, deployment and maintenance
  • Is the entire solution designed and governed within legal, regulatory and compliance protocols and policies
  • Can the provider update to new models seamlessly and without disruption to service

Organisations should look at AI as an enhancement not a replacement. When AI solutions are designed and deployed within a controlled and managed framework that integrates human-curation and oversight, organisations can be confident that AI will deliver the highest levels of customer support. Brand reputation will be enhanced, loyalty will grow and trust will be maintained. 

There is no need for organisations to be hesitant in deploying AI solutions, as the early fears are now mitigated with smart AI complementing human-centred design and deployment.