Virtual customer service uses AI to detect human emotion

IPsoft’s Amelia is an AI customer service agent that can accurately detect the mood of the customer to better deal with their request.

Dealing with the customer support department of many companies can be an infuriating task — as a recent viral recording of a Comcast call demonstrated pretty perfectly. But can digital alternatives offer an improvement? IPsoft’s Amelia is an AI customer service agent that can accurately detect the mood of the customer to better deal with their request.

While many businesses have already experimented with artificial intelligence for online web support, it can soon become very obvious when the ‘agent’ doesn’t respond in an appropriately emotional way, especially if the request is an angry one. Amelia is able to process the natural language of both business manuals and the customer in need of support. Not only can it search those business guides and the web for information to help each customer, but it also tracks their mood and other contextual data. This way, if a customer is unhappy, Amelia tailors its support to offer greater reassurance and works to ensure customers end the call in a better mood. If in any case the issue isn’t resolved, Amelia passes the call or chat onto a human. All communication is stored so Amelia can pick up each case with reference to any previous contact.

Watch the following video to learn more about Amelia:

Detecting customers’ feelings and responding appropriately could make online helpdesks even more like face-to-face support, while helping reduce the burden of customer service teams on businesses. Are there other ways this type of mood-detecting technology could help digitize human responsibilities?