Generative AI and CX: Power and Risks

No generative artificial intelligence (AI) was involved in writing this article, but could you tell the difference if it had? AI has come a long way in just a few short years. From simple chatbots to complicated neural networks, AI is becoming more advanced every day. As a result, things that were once unimaginable—like generating human-like text on a massive scale—are now possible.

But with the development of generative AI systems like?ChatGPT, many of us are asking important questions about the integrity of our systems and what AI means for the future of work and humanity as a whole.

As a champion and advocate for creating amazing customer experiences, I’m interested in how AI can shape the future of CX. Let’s explore…

AI for Customer Experience:

Between virtual assistants, chatbots, and self-driving cars, AI is transforming not only industries, but also our daily lives. According to?Google CEO Sundar Pichai, artificial intelligence will be more capable than anything humankind has seen before, with an impact even more profound than the discovery of fire or electricity.

Here are the developments to watch on the customer experience front:

1. Personalization:?AI helps businesses gain a better understanding of their customers’ behavior and preferences to provide personalized product recommendations and offers. By identifying what’s most relevant to customers, brands can provide the right content at the right time for better engagement and results.
2. Predictive Insights:?Beyond offering personalized recommendations, AI will also be able to analyze large amounts of data, empowering companies to anticipate customer needs and inform product development and business strategy. Companies already use AI to identify customers that are at high risk of churning, enabling them to prioritize inventory for their most valuable customers. By connecting operational data from ERP and other systems to contextual customer data, brands can deliver intelligent CX.
3. Better customer service:?The impact of AI on customer service will go beyond super-smart?chatbots.?AI and connected systems helps agents to quickly find the right data to provide fast resolutions and highly personalized service. With AI insights, service becomes proactive instead of reactive.
4. Guided selling:?AI and machine learning can help B2B sellers focus on the best opportunities by providing data-driven insights. Sellers can respond to buyer-driven signals for?better engagement?and optimal outcomes.

Altogether, AI promises to help businesses boost efficiency of their marketing, sales, service, and commerce operations and improve CX to increase retention and conversion rates.

Ethical AI:

As we look forward to these powerful AI opportunities for customer experience, we also need to take steps to mitigate AI risks.

AI can greatly improve the way we live and work, but we also need to be aware of its potential negative consequences so we can prepare for them.

Consumer privacy, biased programming, physical safety, and murky regulations are all potential risks that we need to watch closely as we forge the path for AI. Relying on AI with blind confidence could lead to machinery malfunctions, discrimination, privacy violations, and undermine civil liberties.

?At SAP, we’re committed to?ethical and transparent development of AI. Our approach upholds the United Nations guiding principles on business and human rights and follows our own seven guiding principles, including placing data protection at the core of every product and service.

For example, our enterprise-ready partner agreements are designed to protect customer data privacy and security. While customer data and context are required to receive meaningful prediction results, we ensure that customer data isn’t used by third-party vendors to train foundation models.

Clearly, AI development needs moral governance in order to set us on a path for good. Moreover, the human element must remain integral, with AI empowering people to maximize their potential, not supplant them.

From automation and streamlined processes to greater efficiency, all of us can benefit from its capabilities. Artificial intelligence can help us create incredible customer experiences and outcomes. And with the right governance, AI promises a better future for us all.

This blog was originally published on The Future of Commerce.

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