Powered by Data - June 24, 2024

Last Week in Conversational AI

• McDonald’s is halting its AI drive-thru ordering partnership with IBM by July 26, 2024. The program, tested in over 100 restaurants, aimed to see if AI could speed up service but has now ended without clear reasons. McDonald’s remains confident in a future with AI voice-ordering solutions and may explore other partnerships, such as a potential deal with Google announced in December. Other fast-food chains like Wendy’s, White Castle, Carl’s Jr., and Hardee’s also experiment with AI in their drive-thrus.
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• Contact centers use AI voice filters to manage angry customers and reduce stress on staff stress. SoftBank Corp is testing AI that softens customer tones to improve agent welfare and customer retention. This technology blends voice processing and emotion recognition. Additionally, many centers use AI to modify agent voices to neutral accents, reducing bias and lowering turnover rates, showing AI's potential beyond automation and bots in customer service.
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• Target is introducing an AI chatbot called "Store Companion" to assist employees with training and problem-solving. The chatbot, accessible on company devices, aims to improve efficiency by answering questions on topics like the Target Circle rewards program and technical issues. Currently piloted in 400 stores, it will roll out to all 2,000 stores by August.
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• Tech giants like Anthropic and xAI are intensifying efforts to enhance the humor of their AI chatbots, recognizing their importance for user engagement. However, current AI models often fail to deliver genuinely funny content, as recent studies and experiments highlighted. DeepMind, for instance, explored AI's ability to generate jokes but faced criticism from comedians who found the AI's output bland and unoriginal, likening it to outdated cruise ship comedy. Anthropic's latest AI model, Claude 3.5 Sonnet, aims to improve nuance and humor, though its capabilities are still developing. Meanwhile, xAI promotes its chatbot Grok as a humorous alternative to competitors.
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