[24]7 AIVA becomes first virtual agent to acquire emotional intelligence

[24]7.ai, a global leader in intent-driven customer engagement solutions, announced the addition of advanced conversational capabilities to its AI-powered virtual agent [24]7 AIVA. With this announcement [24]7 AIVA is now the first virtual agent to possess emotional intelligence, the ability to detect user emotion during interactions, acknowledge it and respond empathetically. This new capability is part of the [24]7.ai Summer 2018 Release that furthers the company’s vision of humans and chatbots working side-by-side as the live agent can now be aware of the customer emotion and handle the interaction accordingly.

[24]7 AIVA, which handles more than a million interactions monthly for top Fortune 500 companies, will further leverage AI to interpret complex layers of human speech and the different possible meanings of phrases to detect emotions. This enables a new level of self-service because the bot can not only detect positive or negative emotion, but also analyse the strength of those emotions and react accordingly before handing over to a human agent as needed.

According to Opus Research, enterprises will spend a projected $5.5 billion by 2021 on licenses and professional services that support Intelligent Assistants.

“The market has become crowded, and the ability to respond based on recognizing an individual’s emotional state is a key differentiator,” said Dan Miller, Lead Analyst at Opus Research. “We believe that reacting to sentiment and collaborating with human agents will result in faster resolution, increased satisfaction, reduced effort, and stronger customer engagement. This should be a top consideration for Fortune 500 companies.”

The world’s largest and most recognizable brands are using intent-driven engagement from [24]7.ai to assist several hundred million visitors annually, through more than 1.5 billion conversations, most of which are automated. 

“Human interactions are complex, but through artificial intelligence we can now handle more complex issues the way a human would,” said Scott Horn, chief marketing officer for [24]7.ai. “Using advanced AI techniques to detect emotion, [24]7 AIVA can not only understand how customers feel, but also take logical actions the way your best human agents would. This frees up agents, while ensuring that customers feel heard, resulting in a better overall experience.”