Eye On A.I. #295 Fergal Reid: Why Your Bots Fail and How Agents Fix Your Customer Support
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Oct 19, 2025 In this engaging conversation, Fergal Reid, Chief AI Officer at Intercom and a PhD in machine learning, discusses the challenges of traditional chatbots and introduces Finn, an advanced AI agent designed for customer support. He explains how Finn handles complex tasks like refunds and returns while seamlessly integrating with existing systems. Fergal also highlights the importance of metrics like resolution rate and offers insights on effectively onboarding AI solutions. Their approach balances configuration with a standardized core, ensuring reliability across multiple communication channels.
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Opinionated Agent Beats Generic Platforms
- Intercom built Fin as an opinionated, highly configurable agent rather than a generic agent platform.
- Standardizing core capabilities and exposing controlled configuration yields better quality at scale.
Voice Deployments Running At Scale
- Intercom launched Fin across messenger, WhatsApp, email, and voice, and now runs voice at scale.
- Fergal describes voice interactions as "magical" when Finn answers end-to-end on phone calls.
Refunds Reveal Hidden Policy Complexity
- Customers use Fin to handle refunds and returns by hooking it to external APIs and encoding complex procedures.
- Fergal recounts customers discovering their sprawling refund policies only when they try to operationalize them with Fin.