Getting Smart About AI

Last year, Swedbank in Sweden "hired" Nina, a dynamo of a company rep. Nina is adept at interacting with customers on the bank's website, answering their questions and routing them to the right human representative. She typically engages in some 45,000 conversations a month and successfully answers eight out of 10 inquiries. Not only can Nina understand and mimic human speech, she can also use data to make connections and recommendations. "Nina's brain for Swedbank is educated on all things Swedbank," says Robert Weideman, EVP and GM of the enterprise division at Nuance Communications, which created Nina.