John Willcutts

By John Willcutts, General Manager, Digital, NICE

ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence chatbot that may prove to be this year’s most talked-about disruptor, is the Pandora’s box of 2023. It is already fundamentally changing the ways we work and learn. We can now output content and receive answers to questions far beyond what search engines could provide. It takes the robot out of the response, illustrating its power through its authentically human-sounding responses. This is a pivotal point for FIs and the way they respond to this groundbreaking use of AI.

Financial institutions must be ready to address what this innovation means to their organizations in the digital era. Banks that succeed will not only integrate generative models like ChatGPT into their operations but enhance its benefits with brand-specific training and AI models and become CXi fluent.

ChatGPT is dynamic. It’s supposed to feel human, not robotic, and it is constantly learning how to respond in different ways. In order for ChatGPT to enhance an FI’s customer experience it needs to be integrated with an AI-powered solution utilizing historical business data, and it needs to be trained to respond and support interactions as intended – just like we train employees and agents today. This is how ChatGPT will be able to intelligently respond to any customer need just like a human customer service agent. With this integration, organizations can create exceptional automated CX with human-like conversational consumer experiences, no agents required. It is the next level of CX: human-friendly automated self-service.

Reinforcing Power of Data and AI

This leads to a critical function of relevance for financial institutions: ChatGPT may be a powerful support tool that frees up time spent on sometimes monotonous and mundane tasks that would be better handled by AI, but it needs to still maintain the level of brand quality and control supported by human employees. By doing this, generative modeling can create high-quality content in a concise amount of time, allowing agents to focus on more strategic work. As the world continues to struggle with a labor shortage, this technology, when used leveraged strategically, can also assist with filling in gaps.

The quick success of ChatGPT reinforces the power of data and AI. FIs must put data management and analysis at the forefront of everything they do, especially in the digital world. This is how banks become CXi fluent and truly capitalize on ChatGPT’s potential. FIs must have all their data on a single platform that can be shared across a suite of best-of-breed solutions.

Having all the data in one place eliminates siloes and makes it easier to access data across teams. This also helps institutions utilize the data: without being able to make sense of the insights within the information stored, the most impactful outcomes cannot be realized. This also plays a significant role in creating a more sophisticated authentication process. Customers shouldn’t have to recite their information over and over to get their account issues solved. They shouldn’t have to recite it at all. By having a single platform that talks to itself, financial institutions, including their chatbots and agents, should know everything about their customers on any touchpoint, anytime.

Given the difficulties bots have had in their early days, it can be easy to question the power of chatbots. Are these new AI developments truly groundbreaking? The answer is yes, with today’s new digital technology, focused on smart self-service and conversational AI that is informed and trained on the most successful customer interactions. For example, NICE’s purpose-built AI is trained on trillions of digital interactions. This correlates to more effective and accurate bots, which can be trained to understand and speak like a human agent. As we move into the future, the quality of customer interaction with a bot and an agent will be nearly identical. This goes for everything from simple transactions to more complex account issues.

ChatGPT is an AI breakthrough that will change customer interactions as we know them. A truly transformative tool now sits in front of FIs. How FIs choose to utilize it will determine their fate in the digital era. FIs have the opportunity to make their mark early and define themselves as digital pioneers, offering a level of natural, friendly and human CX that can’t be matched.