2023 was a busy year for artificial intelligence and customer experience. Generative AI went mainstream and dominated the headlines for the past 12 months. Meanwhile, customer expectations continued to grow as more and more companies pushed the envelope for what digital experiences could be. Those at the forefront leaned into next-generation AI modalities, including generative AI, emotion AI, knowledge AI and others. These technologies—which form the building blocks of enterprise AI—enabled those businesses to have more meaningful, more productive and, most importantly, more human interactions with their customers.

Throughout the year, we explored these topics and more with top AI and CX thought leaders, industry experts and influencers on our podcast, Conversations That Matter. Those that tune in know we like to start each episode by asking our guest to debunk a common myth surrounding AI and/or CX. Here are four of the biggest myths we turned on their head during the past year.

Myth #1: Generative AI will displace jobs

Will generative AI replace human workers? While experts agree that gen AI will take over some mundane tasks, the majority view the technology as enabling rather than substituting. “The far greater impact will be creating more productive employees,” said Matt Dickson, Chief Operating Officer at Eclipse Telecom, on the episode, Agent Enablement Before Automation. “We’re finding that generative AI is allowing humans to be more human. When we look at the contact center, agents that use generative AI tools are demonstrably happier [and] are really seeing their soft skills amplified. It’s much easier to be compassionate and understanding when you aren’t wrestling with systems that are cumbersome [and] repetitive tasks.”

Myth #2: AI is advancing too quickly

This has been a popular refrain since the early days of AI. However, with the meteoric rise of generative AI, it takes on special significance this year. In a news cycle dominated by stories of hallucinations, biases and more, it’s easy to see why AI anxieties run high. Alex Misiaszek, SVP, Experience Design Director – NLU & Emerging Experiences at Truist, believes that anxiety is misplaced. On the episode, Engaging Customers with Conversational AI, she points out that while many of today’s AI applications may seem novel, their underlying platforms have been around for a long time. “The increase in social media and the sensationalism around it, I think, makes it feel like it’s moving faster or evolving faster. But it’s really the same platforms evolving at a pretty steady pace.” 

Myth #3: Anyone can design a chatbot using LLMs and Gen AI

“As Large Language Models and Generative AI came on to the scene, there’s an assumption that designing chatbots actually got easier,” shared Bill Hawks, VP and Sr. Digital Product Manager of Conversational AI at Citizens Bank on the episode, Framework Over Fragment. “I don’t think that’s true. There are some pieces of the processes that have been accelerated; but there are other elements of design, work and understanding the logic that actually got much harder.” Hawks urges businesses to do their due diligence when deploying LLMs and Gen AI in a chatbot setting and not be taken in by unproven players that promise the moon. “The myth that, ‘Hey, now that we have generative AI and Large Language Models, we can just have any startup give us a chatbot in a few weeks,’ is just not true.” The consequences of getting it wrong—false information, compliance issues, etc.—are too serious to ignore.  

Myth #4: Build a great app, and customers will adopt it

For many, if not most, businesses today, having an app is vital to creating a thriving customer experience. However, simply having an app—even one built to the highest customer standards—isn’t enough to get customers to regularly use it. “The hardest part of building a great experience is not building the app itself, it’s driving engagement,” said Jose Quesada, VP of Global Mobile Products at American Express, in the episode, Creating Innovative Mobile Experiences. “It’s not so simple as, ‘build it, and they will come.’ You are competing for the attention of consumers in a very crowded marketplace.” He cited a study that said consumers spend 90 percent of their app time in only five apps every day. That leaves a very small window for companies to make an impact. “I’ve got many apps installed on my device. Do I engage with them every day? No. That is the key point. You can have many apps, but the ones you actually focus on and spend time on is very limited.”

Source: Uniphore