Meet our AI Lead Martijn
And find out about his view on AI impacting the world around us.
Martijn has an extensive scientific background with a focus on Natural Language Processing (NLP) and has worked at companies such as TNO and Blendle. At AssistYou he leads the efforts of leveraging machine learning and speech recognition techniques to improve caller experience for customer services of e.g. Coolblue, Eneco and Air France / KLM.
What’s his perspective on the advancements of artificial intelligence (AI)?
“The other day, I was having a conversation with ChatGPT about birds, another big interest of mine. I asked about species with unusual beaks. To my great surprise, ChatGPT fantasised a whole new species of bird, the ‘Zwaardsnavelhop’, complete with Latin name: Irrisor Imperialis.”
The rapid advance of AI is stirring up a lot politically and economically. How do you view these developments?
These are indeed turbulent times as far as AI is concerned. I have now been working in the field of AI for twenty-five years and have never before witnessed a breakthrough of such proportions. I have mixed feelings about the rapid rise of generative AI in particular - models capable of creating new, original content. On the one hand, I am enormously fascinated by the underlying algorithms and see many opportunities for their positive use for many purposes. For instance, ChatGPT is already helping us to be more efficient and productive when writing code.
Yet I also have reservations and concerns about the way and speed at which this technology seems to be taking over the world. We already have a huge disinformation problem (fake news, conspiracy theories) and this may only be exacerbated by such models, especially if people tend to believe them blindly. The other day, I was having a conversation with ChatGPT about birds, another big interest of mine. I asked about species with unusual beaks. To my great surprise, ChatGPT fantasised a whole new species of bird, the ‘Zwaardsnavelhop’, complete with Latin name: Irrisor Imperialis. The latter, by the way, means something like 'imperial prankster'. It is very important to deploy these models in a careful and controlled way, then they can have a positive impact and support humans in many tasks.
In terms of political and economic impact, there will need to be proper regulation to address ethical and privacy-related issues - think about the use of personal data or discrimination by AI systems. Meanwhile, the debate around employment has also erupted: automation using AI will shake up the labour market considerably. Some jobs will become redundant, as in fact happens all the time, but new jobs will also be created. If you look at history - the industrial revolution is a good example - you will see that the automation of tasks has mainly led to humans only becoming more efficient and productive, and, on the contrary, many new occupations were created.
What added value do you see for AI in customer contact?
A lot! It's exactly why I have enjoyed working at AssistYou for two years now, where the role of my team is exactly that: enriching customer contact using AI. In doing so, we contribute to improved efficiency and customer experience. For example, we use AI models to determine a caller's intent based on a single answer and connect them directly to the right employee without the need for time-consuming key menus. We also use AI to convert calls to text and enrich them with, among other things, the customer's sentiment, the topics that were discussed, and a compact summary of the complete conversation. We also use AI algorithms to then extract the right insights from all this information that are used by our customers to improve their business processes and customer communications.
AI can also precisely support customer support staff, enabling faster and more accurate responses to customer queries. This can help reduce waiting times and increase customer satisfaction. In addition, AI is basically deployable 24/7, allowing companies to offer certain services even outside regular business hours.
While AI can be very valuable in customer contact, the human element does remain crucial in many situations. A good balance between AI support and human interaction - especially for more complex and emotional issues - ensures the greatest customer satisfaction.
What should you include in your consideration to purchase an AI solution for customer contact?
It is important to have your goals clear beforehand: do you mainly want to improve efficiency, increase customer satisfaction, cut costs or boost upselling? Obviously, there are strong dependencies between these aspects, but different AI-driven solutions can be more focused on specific goals. Personally, I think it's important to choose a solution that effectively provides insight into your customers' needs and expectations. A good understanding of this is essential.
Another important point is to choose a solution that meets strict data security and privacy protection requirements, because most customer contact obviously involves personal or sensitive information. In order to move quickly, near real-time processing of calls is also an important advantage. Scalability plays an important role here: can the system be easily scaled up to handle the increased volume of calls as it grows.
Concluding
- These ‘turbulent’ AI times call for careful and intelligent consideration of generated results. The underlying algorithms provide many opportunities for positive use for many purposes. For instance, ChatGPT is already helping us to be more efficient and productive when writing code. On the other hand, the way and speed at which this technology seems to be taking over the world is alarming. We already have a huge disinformation problem (fake news, conspiracy theories) and this may only be exacerbated by such models, especially if people tend to believe them blindly.
- Automation using AI will shake up the labour market considerably. Some jobs will become redundant, as in fact happens all the time, but new jobs will also be created. If you look at history - the industrial revolution is a good example - you will see that the automation of tasks has mainly led to humans only becoming more efficient and productive, and, on the contrary, many new professions were created.
- Enriching customer contact with AI means a huge positive contribution to improved efficiency, customer and employee experience.
- Have clear goals when you consider purchasing an AI solution for customer contact.
