Credit Suisse likes to highlight its fintech achievements with chatbot Amelia. However the «baby» ran into initial skepticism from staff at the bank, as the «mum» reports.
The avatar of Amelia, a chatbot, appears as a blond assistant, complete in a two-piece and blouse (see video). However the robot has only been in use for some 18 months at Credit Suisse – strictly speaking the technology being used by the bank is still in its infancy.
And like any new baby, Amelia has a mum who protects her through thick and thin. As reported by the sector portal «Techtarget», Mum is Jennifer Hewit (pictured at left). She is the Swiss bank's «director for digital and cognitive services».
Hewit (pictured at left) is busy implementing the tasks of modernizing the bank’s service desk. That means any area where bankers tackle computer problems. She also relies on the Amelia system from the firm IP Soft, which connects virtual communication and learnable software. The application should help the bank automate simple repetitive tasks and simultaneously conduct complicated discussions – this is the goal anyway.
As finews.asia reported, Amelia was initially well short of being able to fulfill these tasks. In July last year the chatbot could only automatically solve some 13 percent of queries without any human help. At the start the software could only understand around 23 percent of the questions. This, recalls Hewit, wasn’t good enough for the bank. «Amelia was expected to do everything.»
On the Wrong Track
Hewit’s attempts to win over the bank’s staff with use of artificial intelligence also failed. «People are suspicious of new technologies which they don’t understand. And this was the case with AI», according to the IT expert.
Amelia’s «mum» switched her tactics. She began a chat at the service desk, which the machine managed. Complicated queries were passed on by the robot to people. At the same time Hewit was willing to talk to the users and sought their understanding for the application’s weaknesses.
Meanwhile Amelia can now understand 87 percent of the queries. However Hewit often falls back on the saying she has learned: Amelia is still a baby – and has much to learn.
