Fergal Reid, VP of AI at Intercom, discusses the impact and evolution of AI in customer service, specifically focusing on large language models like GPD. He highlights the potential of AI in reshaping customer support and emphasizes disciplined development for high-quality AI products.
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Quick takeaways
Advancements in AI are revolutionizing customer service through large language models.
Building reliable AI tools for customer support involves addressing challenges like hallucinations in AI responses.
Deep dives
The AI-driven Transformation in Customer Service
Advancements in AI, particularly large language models, are revolutionizing customer service by streamlining knowledge work. Intercom's VP of AI, Fergal Reed, discusses the shift towards deep AI-first systems that prioritize customer service solutions. Through innovations like ChachiPT, AI applications are enhancing natural language processing capabilities, leading to breakthroughs in understanding context, translations, and summarizations.
Developing Industrial Strength AI Tools for Customer Support
Building reliable AI tools for customer support involves addressing challenges like hallucinations in AI responses and ensuring robust performance. Intercom's development of Fin showcases the importance of refining AI systems using methods like retrieval augmented generation to improve accuracy in answering customer queries. The focus on creating specialized AI components, rather than generic tin wrappers, highlights the significance of developing tailored solutions for specific tasks in customer service.
Future Prospects and Challenges in AI-Powered Customer Support
As AI models continue to evolve, the future of customer support lies in autonomous AI agents capable of complex reasoning and actions. The increasing reliance on AI systems raises the need for quality control to prevent errors, especially in handling critical financial or operational tasks. While AI-powered customer support offers efficiency and improved user experiences, businesses must adapt to changing end-user expectations and design effective policy frameworks to guide AI decision-making.
Great brands that endure always leap on new opportunities. To understand the new AI opportunity, you must understand the underlying technology. Our VP of AI, Fergal Reid, is the perfect person to explain that technology, and how it will transform the way you provide customer service. Fergal has been working on applying machine learning to customer service for many years, and has been leading our efforts in building generative AI into the core of the Intercom platform.
You can watch this episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZgHB9KFl1Y
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