Can Digital Human Assistants Help Accelerate AI Acceptance in the Customer Experience?

The Role of AI in Customer Service: Balancing Automation & Engagement

The rising use of AI in customer interactions creates plenty of opportunities for businesses to automate operations and reduce costs. However, it can also create a significant challenge for brand engagement and user retention if the implementation ends up having a depersonalizing impact on the overall customer experience. Can the increasing availability of digital human assistants via platforms such as Antix help bridge the gap? 

It's now estimated that more than half of companies of all sizes are using AI in some capacity for customer service. However, in a quest to save time and money, companies may end up inadvertently alienating their customers. Research from Gartner found that nearly two-thirds of customers would rather not interact with an AI agent, citing concerns that it would act as a barrier to reaching a human agent. Another survey found that 78% of respondents prefer to speak with a human, citing a need to feel heard and establish a rapport. 

Part of the challenge is that implementations of generative AI chatbots can end up feeling relatively transactional and impersonal from the user's perspective. While more recent iterations of LLMs manage to communicate in a way that's more authentically human, many firms are still experimenting with AI and how it can help productivity. However, the results may be deterring customers, and in today's competitive environment, brand loyalty is becoming ever more nebulous. PwC reports that nearly one-third of all customers in the US would stop doing business with a brand they love after one bad experience, rising to nearly half for Latin America.

So the challenge for brands is two-fold. How do they incorporate AI tools into their customer service workflow in a way that enables them to reap the productivity benefits of automation? At the same time, how can they do so in a way that avoids depersonalizing the customer experience to the point that people may be put off and move to a competitor?

A factor adding yet more complexity is that this challenge is only likely to become more difficult with further advancements in AI. The  emergence of agentic AI offers significant opportunities for businesses and consumers, promising more autonomy with decision-making and task-execution capabilities that represent a step beyond the capabilities of current generative AI models. For instance, agentic AI could handle more complicated workflows typically assigned to humans, such as handling complaints or refunds. 

However, like the implementations that came before, customer acceptance will be key to the success of agentic AI. Brands still need to keep people engaged and ensure a positive experience that leads to repeat business, or any productivity benefits will become lost in reduced revenue. 

Creating a seamless experience

Gartner's advice is to tackle the issue using the best practice principles of service journey design. The AI interactions should become a seamless part of the user experience, making it easier to navigate to what's needed and find a solution, including connecting to a human agent when necessary. 

Intelligent digital assistants offer a much-needed way to bridge the gap between the AI and human elements of the customer service experience. Antix is one example of a platform that enables the creation of hyper-realistic and intelligent digital human assistants that offer several use cases for businesses of all sizes. They can become the online face of a brand across social media and in marketing campaigns, engaging with people and establishing an initial connection. They can also be used to process customer requests in real time, offering a more authentic interaction than traditional chatbots. 

On Antix, digital assistants are linked to NFTs that are programmed to evolve alongside the user. The platform leverages advanced machine learning and natural language processing to enable human-like interactions, creating a more meaningful connection between agents and users. In addition to having a configurable appearance and voice, digital humans can also be configured with emotional tones and behaviors that adapt to the brand's own characteristics. 

While digital assistants offer a more human-like interface, they can still be used alongside established processes involving real humans when needed – for instance, in resolving more complex queries or settling disputes. However, given that some people will be unable to discern the difference between AI agents and humans on a screen, there will be a need for transparency over which activities are AI-enabled versus those involving real people. 

As the focus of AI moves toward agentic models, enabling greater influence over human interactions and our online processes, it's more important than ever to ingrain trust into the human-agent relationship. Whether facilitating virtual meetings, providing customer support, or providing a more human face to a brand, digital assistants can help foster a sense of connection that's currently missing from human-agent interactions. Ultimately, this will help acceptance and thus accelerate enterprise AI adoption.